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 726

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1882 Registrar M. Mackeson

No	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
200	25 May 1882	William Manning Margaret Brown	William Manning Margaret Brown 💍 1882/1766	Bachelor Spinster	Malster Servant	29 26	Sydenham Christchurch	7 years 17 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser, Durham Street	82/1148		25 May 1882	Rev C. Fraser
201	26 May 1882	Andrew Black Christina Olson	Andrew Black Christina Olson 💍 1882/1592	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the House of Rev J. Elmslie, Lichfield Street	82/1313		26 May 1882	Rev J. Elmslie
202	29 May 1882	Hugh Hammery Bessie Stokes	Hugh Flannery Bessie Stokes 💍 1882/3614	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer Housekeeper	35 33	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/1309		29 May 1882	Rev L. Ginaty
203	29 May 1882	John Saunders Elizabeth Winters	John Lander Elizabeth McMahon 💍 1883/81 John Hunter Elizabeth Williamson 💍 1882/2095 John Anderson Elizabeth Stacey 💍 1882/2211 John Harris Elizabeth Haynes 💍 1882/3066	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 24	Prebbleton Prebbleton	3 years 20 years	In the Prebbleton Church			29 May 1882	Rev A. C. Wright
204	30 May 1882	Charles Edward Goodwin Dickinson Harriet Grant	Charles Edwin Dickinson Harriet Grant 💍 1882/1596	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 20	Christchurch Papanui	3 days 19 years	In the House of Mr Grant, Kaiapoi	82/1314	Margaret Grant, mother	30 May 1882	Rev F. H. Hauvelle
205	30 May 1882	Francis Walls Jones Vale	Francis Walls Harriett Jones Vale 💍 1882/1567	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Papanui Church	82/1426		30 May 1882	Rev F. Britton
206	30 May 1882	Thomas Stephens Mary Ann Penzelly	Thomas Stephens Mary Ann Pengelly 💍 1882/1415	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 21 years	In the Registrars Office	82/1405		30 May 1882	Registrar M. Mackeson
207	31 May 1882	Patrick Finerty Louise Ryan	Patrick Finnerty Louisa Ryan 💍 1882/1414	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 4 years	Registrars Office	82/1404		31 May 1882	Registrar M. Mackeson
208	01 June 1882	John James Ellen Brunt	John Rice Ellen Penn 💍 1882/734 John Barr Ellen McBride 💍 1882/3629	Widower Spinster	Joiner Dressmaker	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 18 years	In the Congregational Church	82/1354	Martin & Sarah	01 June 1882	Rev H. Williams

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 1899. 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).