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 754

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1882 Registrar Marthusen

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
407	November 1882	Thomas Wotten Vinaveth Begg	Thomas Wotten Elizabeth Begg 💍 1882/3481	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years In the House 1 year Jane Street	of Reve. Fraser	82/3573		November 13 1882	Reve. Fraser Presbyterian
408	November 1882	Stephen Neary Annie Shaw	Stephen Neary Annie Shaw 💍 1882/3146	Bachelor Widow	Coachman	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years In the Registrars Office 9 years Christchurch		82/3093		November 15 1882	Registrar Marriage M. Marthusen
409	November 1882	Henry George Matilda Catherine Lilly	Henry George Sheppard Alice Matilda Catherine Lilly 💍 1882/3058	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	23 20	Christchurch Rangiora	11 years In the Rangiora 20 years Church Rangiora		82/3006	John Lilly Father	November 16 1882	Rev Arch: Sedley Church of England
410	November 1882	William John Alice MacCullock	William John Ozanne Alice MacCulloch 💍 1882/2885	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 36	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days In F. Buchards several Christchurch	Church, Auckland	82/3105		November 17 1882	Rev W. Harper Church of England
411	November 1882	Abraham Absolum Georgina Baller	Abraham Absolum Georgina Baker 💍 1882/83	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 months In F. Dukes 3 days Christchurch, Kaiapoi	Church	82/3063		November 17 1882	Rev. A. Guizard Church of England
412	November 1882	Charles Clarke Sarah Reynolds	Charles Clarke Sarah Reynolds 💍 1882/2906	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years In the Registrars Office 6 years Christchurch		82/3102	no person having authority	December 27 1882	Registrar Marriage M. Marthusen
413	November 1882	John Nichols Ruicy Martin	John Nicholls Emily Martin 💍 1882/2896	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	27 29	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week In the House 1 week Sydenham	of Mr. Coates Queen Street	82/3115		November 21 1882	Rev. I. Rishworth Wesleyan
414	November 1882	Thomas Whitty Ellen Me: Adams	Thomas Whittey Ellen McAdams 💍 1882/3321	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years In the Roman Catholic Church 8 years Christchurch		82/3479		November 21 1882	Rev. L. Guiraty Roman Catholic
415	November 1882	John Maher May Anne Alice Bourke	John Maher Maryanne Alice Burke 💍 1882/3322 John Maher Jessie Anderson 💍 1882/2988	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year In the Roman Catholic Church 3 days Christchurch Rangiora		82/3480	Cornelius Bourke Father	November 21 1882	Rev. L. Ginaty Roman Catholic

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).