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 376

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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
74	27 November 1882	James Richardson Zephlinda Edith Barrd	James Richardson Zephlinda Edith Carrol 💍 1882/3094	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 20	Wanganui Wanganui	16 yrs. 8 yrs.	In the Public Church	82/2916	Tabitha Barrd, mother	28 November 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
75	4 December 1882	Thomas Richard Coghlan Charlotte Green	Thomas Richard Roydhouse Charlotte Green 💍 1882/2759	Bachelor Spinster	Dramatist	21 17	- Wanganui	2 yrs. 6 wks.	In the Office of the Registrar	82/2780		5 December 1882	J. W. Woon, Registrar
76	5 December 1882	David George Koper Mary Theresa Green	David George Hope Mary Theresa Green 💍 1882/2757	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	21 18	Wanganui Wanganui	6 mos. 3 yrs.	At Marriages, Wanganui	82/2770	Mary Green, mother	7 December 1882	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian
77	7 December 1882	William Henry Chiltham Emma Maud Kellett	William Henry Chitham Emma Maud Nelson 💍 1882/2765	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	27 24	Wanganui Wanganui	16 yrs. 7 yrs.	In the residence of H. Chiltham			9 December 1882	J. W. Woon, Registrar
78	9 December 1882	Richard Old Sarah Ann Watkins	Richard Old Sarah Ann Watkins 💍 1882/2758	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Boulair Boulair	16 yrs. 6 mos.	In the Office of the Registrar	82/2781		11 December 1882	Rev. Jas. Treadwell, Presbyterian
79	11 December 1882	William Elliott King Mary Ann Eden	William Elliot Hogg Mary Ann Eden 💍 1882/2970	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 23	Wanganui Wanganui	9 yrs. 7 wks.	In the residence of C. W. E.	82/2766		12 December 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
80	12 December 1882	Sigmund Hardwick White Sarah Ann Roe	Seymour Frederick Whitcombe Sarah Ann Roe 💍 1882/3095	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 25	Wanganui Wanganui	4½ yrs. 6 days	In the English Church	82/2914		20 December 1882	J. W. Woon, Registrar
81	15 December 1882	Thomas Richard Goodman Charlotte Green	Thomas Richard Roydhouse Charlotte Green 💍 1882/2759	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	21 27	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 8 wks.	At Marriages, Wanganui	82/2820		16 December 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
82	16 December 1882	Joseph Ruscoe Helen Constance Garner	Joseph Ruscoe Helen Constanza Garner 💍 1882/2773	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Wanganui Wanganui	10 yrs. 21 yrs.	In the residence of H. Thomas	82/2772		27 December 1882	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian
83	27 December 1882	William McKenzie Elizabeth Bryer	William McKenzie Elizabeth Bryce 💍 1882/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Wanganui Brunswick	4 days 20 yrs.	In the residence of Hon. John Bryce, Brunswick	82/2769		29 December 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England
84	29 December 1882	Henry Jacob Evangeline Maria Harris	Henry Jacobs Evangeline Maria Harris 💍 1883/249	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 19	Okora Okora	8 yrs. 3 wks.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	83/2161	Henry Harris, father	29 December 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor, Church of England

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).