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 736

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1882 Registrar M Maulkerson

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
272	15 July 1882	James Nelson Sarah Ann Nicholls	James Nelson Sarah Ann Nicholls 💍 1882/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Dressmaker	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 24 years	St Mathews Church	82/2200		15 July 1882	Rev R. Mortimer
273	17 July 1882	Frederick Adolphus Waterman Laura Allen	Frederick Adolphus Waterman Laura Ellen Allen 💍 1882/2245	Widower Spinster	Baker	33 24	Oxford Christchurch	7 years 4 days	In the Baptist, Oxford Chapel	82/2213		17 July 1882	Rev C. Ballaston
274	17 July 1882	James Smith Johanna Heaton	James Smith Jane Harold 💍 1882/1044 James Smith Annie Philip Simpson 💍 1882/1025	Widower Spinster	Farming Housekeeper	40 27	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/2041		17 July 1882	Rev J. O'Donnell
275	17 July 1882	Sedford Webb Mary Jane Wilson	Bedford Webb White Mary Jane Wilson 💍 1882/2084	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 2 years	In St Lukes Church	82/2195		17 July 1882	Rev R. A. Lingard
276	18 July 1882	Michael Tansey Frances Maria Murray Carr	Michael Tansey Frances Maria Murray Carr 💍 1882/3299	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/2412		18 July 1882	Rev L. Guinty
277	18 July 1882	William Henry Gledhill Mary Ann Walker	William Henry Gledhill Mary Ann Walker 💍 1882/2105	Widower Spinster	Gas Manager	38 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 months	In the House, Camaru of Mr. Walker	82/2241		18 July 1882	Rev Z. Best
278	19 July 1882	John Still Alice Rose Russell	John Still Alice Rose Russell 💍 1882/2681	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	29 20	Opawa Opawa	6 months 3 years	In the Opawa Church	82/2549		19 July 1882	Rev G. J. Cholmondeley
279	19 July 1882	George Wilkes Emma Powell	John George Wilkes Emma Powel 💍 1882/3407	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 2 years	In St Johns Church		Elizabeth Smith, mother	19 July 1882	Rev H. E. M. Watson

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).