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 370

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1882

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
29	13 May 1882	Michael Foley Anna Turner	Michael Foley Annie Tonner 💍 1882/1083	Widower Spinster	Carter	28 25	Wanganui do	6 yrs. 7 yrs.	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	82/1028		13 May 1882	Rev. S. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
30	15 May 1882	Richard Landerock Launch Martha Curling		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 19	do do	7 yrs. 10 yrs.	In the residence of R. H. Bassett, Glasgow Street	82/1104		15 May 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
31	15 May 1882	John Benjamin Yeoman Annie Kamile Hill	John Benjamin Peyman Annie Emily Hill 💍 1882/3611	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 18	do do	16 yrs. 7 mths.	In the office of the Registrar, Wanganui	[illegible]		15 May 1882	Mr. Wood, Registrar
32	17 May 1882	William Nathaniel Bartlett Mary Partyshire	William Nathaniel Bartlett Mary Darbyshire 💍 1882/1056	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 26	Maxwelltown Wanganui	25 yrs. 10 yrs.	In the English Church, Upper Turakina	82/1051		17 May 1882	T. L. Tudor, Church of England
33	19 May 1882	William Vivian Charlotte Prabell	William Vivian Charlotte Capell 💍 1882/1067	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	39 19	Wanganui do	16 yrs. 19 yrs.	In the office of the Registrar, Wanganui	82/1040	Peakeil, Father	19 May 1882	Mr. Wood, Registrar
34	19 May 1882	Thomas Allen Mabel Webb	Thomas Allen Mabel Webb 💍 1882/1054	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 27	Long Acre Valley River Bank	2 yrs. 3 yrs.	In the English Church, Wanganui	82/1049		19 May 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
35	20 May 1882	Patrick McLanghan Jane Richardson	Patrick McLaughlan Jane Richardson 💍 1882/1085	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 25	Wanganui Fordell	4 yrs. 14 yrs.	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	82/1032		20 May 1882	Rev. S. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
36	22 May 1882	Robert Smith Elizabeth Suidas	Robert Smith Elizabeth Sinclair 💍 1882/1065 Joseph Smith Elizabeth Richards 💍 1882/584 John Robert Smith Elizabeth Cookson 💍 1882/1713	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	38 28	Wanganui do	6 days 6 days	In the residence of Rev. B., River Bank	82/1036		22 May 1882	Rev. James Torrahwalk, Presbyterian
37	23 May 1882	Jeremiah Founch Ann Elizabeth Fender		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 23	do do	22 yrs. 6 yrs.	In the residence of Rev. B., Wanganui	82/1029		23 May 1882	Rev. S. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
38	2 June 1882	Edgar William Simmons Harriett Gardiner	Edgar William Simmons Harriet Gardiner 💍 1882/1055	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	26 21	do do	2 yrs. 2 yrs.	In the English Church, Wanganui	82/1050		2 June 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
39	6 June 1882	Robert Howard Nolan Octavia Jane Burch	Robert Howard Nolan Octavia Jane Durie 💍 1882/1079	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	27 22	Glen Durie Wanganui	22 yrs. 22 yrs.	In the Church of England, Hawera	82/1025		6 June 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
40	9 June 1882	Patrick Brady Catherine Towne	Patrick Brady Catherine Tonner 💍 1882/1086 Peter Brady Catherine McGrath 💍 1883/96	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Wanganui do	4 yrs. 4 yrs.	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	82/1031		9 June 1882	Rev. S. H. Kirk, 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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).