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 810

District of Temuka Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar B.D. Staceoraw

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

11 January 1882

Thomas Markham
Honora Howe

Thomas Markham
Honora Howe
💍 1882/1031

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

30
33

Temuka
Temuka

8 years
2 years

Roman Catholic

82/1621

11 January 1882

Rev. I. Famel

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Markham	Honora Howe
	💍 1882/1031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	82/1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Famel

21 January 1882

Thomas Bourke
Frances Loursa Demuth

Thomas Bourke
Frances Louisa Demuth
💍 1882/1029

Bachelor
Spinster

Constable

25
22

[illegible]
[illegible]

3 years
21 years

82/1219

6 February 1880

Rev. I. Famel

No	2
Date of Notice	21 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bourke	Frances Loursa Demuth
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Bourke	Frances Louisa Demuth
	💍 1882/1029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Constable
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	[illegible]	[illegible]
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	do
Folio	82/1219
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1880
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Famel

23 January 1882

Timothy Driscoll
Honora Swenie

Timothy Driscoll
Honora Irwin
💍 1882/1030

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
23

[illegible]
[illegible]

5 years
6 months

82/1620

23 January 1882

Rev. I. Famel

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Driscoll	Honora Swenie
BDM Match (81%)	Timothy Driscoll	Honora Irwin
	💍 1882/1030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	[illegible]	[illegible]
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	do
Folio	82/1620
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Famel

24 January 1882

Hugh Black
Euphemia Bowie

Hugh Black
Euphemia Bowie
💍 1882/676

Bachelor
Spinster

Hatchmaker

27
22

Temuka
Timaru

3 years
3 years

Residence of [illegible]

24 January 1882

Rev. Dm. Leenan

No	4
Date of Notice	24 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Black	Euphemia Bowie
	💍 1882/676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hatchmaker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of [illegible]
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dm. Leenan

13 July 1882

William Bass
Harriet Elizabeth Klee

William Bass
Hannah Elizabeth Klee
💍 1882/1027

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationmaster

33
20

Temuka
[illegible]

4 days
20 years

Residence of [illegible]

82/1617

H. Keer, Father

13 February 1883

Rev. D. Sordin

No	5
Date of Notice	13 July 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bass	Harriet Elizabeth Klee
BDM Match (89%)	William Bass	Hannah Elizabeth Klee
	💍 1882/1027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Temuka	[illegible]
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of [illegible]
Folio	82/1617
Consent	H. Keer, Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Sordin

14 February 1882

Benjamin Brosnahan
Ellen Sullivan

Benjamin Brosnahan
Ellen Sullivan
💍 1882/1028

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
22

Pleasant Point
Kerrytown

5 years
7 years

Roman Catholic

82/1618

14 February 1883

Rev. I. Famel

No	6
Date of Notice	14 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Brosnahan	Ellen Sullivan
	💍 1882/1028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Pleasant Point	Kerrytown
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	82/1618
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Famel

28 [illegible] 1882

J.M. Lwooney
Theresa M. Hughes

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

31
24

Temuka
Timaru

3 months
2 years

Church Temuka

82/1453

[illegible]

L. Famel R.C.

No	7
Date of Notice	28 [illegible] 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	J.M. Lwooney	Theresa M. Hughes
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church Temuka
Folio	82/1453
Consent
Date of Certificate	[illegible]
Officiating Minister	L. Famel R.C.

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).