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 712

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar J W Parkerson

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

March 20 1882

Joseph Teague
Mary Hall

Joseph Teague
Mary Hall
💍 1882/1589

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

28
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

6 years
2 years

In the Methodist Chapel

82/1995

Father

20 March 1882

Rev. I. Word

No	93
Date of Notice	March 20 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Teague	Mary Hall
	💍 1882/1589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Chapel
Folio	82/1995
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	20 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Word

March 21 1882

George Button
Ellen Ryan

George Button Denny
Ellen Ryan
💍 1882/634

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Servant

27
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
7 years

In St Mary's Church

82/1930

Father

21 March 1882

Rev. H. East

No	94
Date of Notice	March 21 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Button	Ellen Ryan
BDM Match (84%)	George Button Denny	Ellen Ryan
	💍 1882/634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Servant
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In St Mary's Church
Folio	82/1930
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. East

March 21 1882

David Thomas
Howard Jennings

David Thomas
Mary Stewart Jennings
💍 1882/600

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

38
26

Papanui
Papanui

5 years
21 years

In St Paul's Church

82/1528

Father

21 March 1882

Rev. F. Brittan

No	95
Date of Notice	March 21 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thomas	Howard Jennings
BDM Match (79%)	David Thomas	Mary Stewart Jennings
	💍 1882/600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Papanui	Papanui
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In St Paul's Church
Folio	82/1528
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Brittan

March 22 1882

Stephen Cole Moule
Annie Susan Truscott

Stephen Cole Moule
Anne Susan Ellen Truscott
💍 1882/3446

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
18

West Melton
West Melton

13 years
18 years

In the House of Mr. Truscott

82/1574

Father

22 March 1882

Rev. H.S. Burnett

No	96
Date of Notice	March 22 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Cole Moule	Annie Susan Truscott
BDM Match (86%)	Stephen Cole Moule	Anne Susan Ellen Truscott
	💍 1882/3446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	West Melton	West Melton
Length of Residence	13 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Truscott
Folio	82/1574
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.S. Burnett

March 23 1882

Horatio Dunville
Nelson & Ada Welborne

Bachelor
Spinster

Tea Merchant

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
12 years

In St Luke's Church

82/1493

23 March 1882

Rev. C.A. Luizard

No	97
Date of Notice	March 23 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horatio Dunville	Nelson & Ada Welborne
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tea Merchant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In St Luke's Church
Folio	82/1493
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.A. Luizard

March 25 1882

David Brown
Agnes Eliza East

David Brown
Agnes Eliza East
💍 1882/886

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Servant

24
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
1 year

In St Luke's Church

82/1491

25 March 1882

Rev. C.A. Luizard

No	98
Date of Notice	March 25 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Brown	Agnes Eliza East
	💍 1882/886
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In St Luke's Church
Folio	82/1491
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.A. Luizard

March 27 1882

John Beer Tolchar
Eliza Sarah Perham

John Beer Tolchar
Olena Sarah Elizabeth Perham
💍 1882/865

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

2 years
6 years

In the House of Rev C. Fraser

82/1580

Father

27 March 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No	99
Date of Notice	March 27 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Beer Tolchar	Eliza Sarah Perham
BDM Match (77%)	John Beer Tolchar	Olena Sarah Elizabeth Perham
	💍 1882/865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev C. Fraser
Folio	82/1580
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

100

March 27 1882

Hanton Thomas
Elizabeth June Merriman

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

26
23

Christchurch
Sydenham

8 months
18 years

In the House of Mr. Merriman

82/1496

Father

27 March 1882

Rev. A. Peters

No	100
Date of Notice	March 27 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hanton Thomas	Elizabeth June Merriman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 months	18 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr. Merriman
Folio	82/1496
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters

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 1908. 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).