Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 704 [memo]

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar J.J. Mackeson

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

V. Kate

Ruily Pellatt Widow Seamstress

St. Albans

7 years

North Belt

4 February 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No	3
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	V. Kate
Condition
Profession	Ruily Pellatt Widow Seamstress
Age	32
Dwelling Place	St. Albans
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	North Belt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

35 February

Celbert Cunsley
Susan Hyland

Robert Ansley
Susan Hyland
💍 1882/650

Bachelor
Widow

Painter

25
40

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
5 years

In the House of Mrs. Hylase

82/553

4 February 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No	4
Date of Notice	35 February
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Celbert Cunsley	Susan Hyland
BDM Match (83%)	Robert Ansley	Susan Hyland
	💍 1882/650
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Painter
Age	25	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mrs. Hylase
Folio	82/553
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

cause Farmer

Christchurch

5 days

In T. Matthews

82/524

28 January 1882

Rev. R. Mortimer

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	cause Farmer
Condition
Profession
Age	47
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days
Marriage Place	In T. Matthews
Folio	82/524
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mortimer

low

Christchurch

2 years

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	low
Condition
Profession
Age	49
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

Talven Laborer

Christchurch

5 weeks

In the Roman Catholic Church

82/552

30 January 1882

Rev. L. Guimaty

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Talven Laborer
Condition
Profession
Age	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	82/552
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Guimaty

ister Servant

Christchurch

4 years

Christchurch

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	ister Servant
Condition
Profession
Age	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

leen Draper

Christchurch

2 years

In the Registrar's Office

82/536

no person having authority

1 February 1882

Rev. H. Last

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	leen Draper
Condition
Profession
Age	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	82/536
Consent	no person having authority
Date of Certificate	1 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Last

ister Dressmaker

Christchurch

2 years

Christchurch

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	ister Dressmaker
Condition
Profession
Age	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

leen Farmer

Addington

4 years

In H. Mary's Church

82/554

2 February 1882

Rev. W. Harper

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	leen Farmer
Condition
Profession
Age	24
Dwelling Place	Addington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	In H. Mary's Church
Folio	82/554
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Harper

ister Servant

Christchurch

7 years

Addington

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	ister Servant
Condition
Profession
Age	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	Addington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

cheln Painter

Christchurch

8 years

In H. Michael's Church

3 February 1882

Rev. I. Aldred

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	cheln Painter
Condition
Profession
Age	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years
Marriage Place	In H. Michael's Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Aldred

dow

Christchurch

5 years

Christchurch

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	dow
Condition
Profession
Age	40
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

daves woulder

St. Albans

7 years

In the House of Mr. Plummer

82/541

3 February 1882

Rev. I. Aldred

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	daves woulder
Condition
Profession
Age	45
Dwelling Place	St. Albans
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Plummer
Folio	82/541
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Aldred

36 February

Frederick Seaman
Nickolls Ulina

Bachelor

Journalist

29
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 months
3 months

In the Registrar's Office

82/573

4 February 1882

J.J. Mackeson

No
Date of Notice	36 February
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Seaman	Nickolls Ulina
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Journalist
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	82/573
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1882
Officiating Minister	J.J. Mackeson

Burton Hourie

Spuister

Christchurch

3 months

Christchurch

No
Date of Notice
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Burton Hourie
Condition
Profession	Spuister
Age
Dwelling Place	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 months
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).