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 426

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
146	24 July 1882	Henry Dobson Alrei Wilson	Henry Dobson Alice Wilson 💍 1882/2356	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	82/1993		24 July 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
147	25 July 1882	Frederick Horne Emily Blanche Barnes	Frederick Howe Nation Emily Blanche Barnes 💍 1882/2336	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	23 27	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	82/1994		25 July 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
148	27 July 1882	Robert Stevens Isabella Kershaw Macdonald	Robert Stevens Isabella Denton Macdonald 💍 1882/1973	Widower Spinster	Currier	33 20	Karawara Lower Hutt	4 10 days	Presbyterian Chapel, Lower Hutt	82/2013	Robert Macdonald Father	27 July 1882	Rev. D. Bruce
149	31 July 1882	Robert Henry Wilson Emily Saunders	Robert Henry Wilson Emily Saunders 💍 1882/1975	Bachelor Spinster	Lighthouse Keeper	26 19	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	Mr Hutchison's Home, Upper Willis Street	82/2032	No relation in Colony	10 August 1882	Rev. Ramsford Bavin
150	31 July 1882	Michael Kinsella Mary Ann McLellan	Micheal Kinsella Mary Ann McGullin 💍 1882/2236	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St Mary's Cathedral	82/1222		31 July 1882	Rev. John de Numena
151	31 July 1882	Frederick Selley Leah Church	Frederick Tetley Leah Ann Church 💍 1882/2334	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 17	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street	82/1984	William Church Father	31 July 1882	Rev. A. J. Smith
152	31 July 1882	Charles Cuddly Emma Catherine McIntosh	Charles Cudby Emma Catherine McIntosh 💍 1882/1982	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 17	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 4	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	82/2016	John Mc Intosh Father	21 July 1882	Rev. J. Lampela
153	01 August 1882	James Blyth Emily McRae	James Blyth Emily McRae 💍 1882/1852	Widower Spinster	Carter	35 22	Wellington Wellington	4 4	Home of Mr. Mc Lean, Willis Street	82/1981		01 August 1882	Rev. N. B. Redstone
154	02 August 1882	Edmond Thomas Sayers Caroline Leatherwood	Edmond Thomas Sayers Caroline Leathwood 💍 1882/2357	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	4 4	Registrar's Office	82/1994		02 August 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
155	03 August 1882	William Kirker Mary Jane Harvey	William Kirkus Mary June Harvey 💍 1882/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 21	Newtown Newtown	6 weeks 6 weeks	Registrar's Office	82/2001		03 August 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
156	03 August 1882	Michael Dillon Mary Thompson	Michael Dillon Mary Thompson 💍 1882/2358	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	82/1995		03 August 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
157	07 August 1882	George Howard Hannah Lozer	George Howard Hannah Tozer 💍 1882/2335	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 5 weeks	Registrar's Office	82/1996		07 August 1882	J. G. Holdsworth

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).