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 719

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1882 Registrar M. Cuthbertson

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
141	24 April 1882	Maurice Heffppel Annie O'Callaghan	Maurice Keppel Annie OCallaghan 💍 1882/1358	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church	82/1299		24 April 1882	Rev. L. Guinty
142	24 April 1882	John Hadfield Emma Kemp	John Hadfield Emma Kemp 💍 1882/1403	Bachelor Spinster	Bootcaller Servant	24 27	Sydenham Christchurch	8 years 2 years	In the Registrar's Office	82/1394		24 April 1882	Registrar Marriage
143	25 April 1882	Samuel Robertson Sarah Isabella Robinson	Samuel Robertson Sarah Isabella Robinson 💍 1882/29	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 25	Christchurch [from] Malvern Christchurch	3 days 14 years	In the House of Mr. Anstey, Addington	82/1396		25 April 1882	Rev. C. Fraser
144	25 April 1882	Haulk Rowland Clara Keeper	Frank Rowland Eleanor Clara Keeper 💍 1882/1406	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Housemaid	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 weeks 4 months	In the Registrar's Office	82/1397		25 April 1882	Registrar Marriage
145	25 April 1882	John Henry Wear Amelia Keefe	John Henry Wear Amelia Kemp 💍 1882/1404	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Dressmaker	25 19	Sydenham Sydenham	Jewells Jewells	In the Registrar's Office	82/1395	Martha Keefe, mother	25 April 1882	Registrar Marriage
146	26 April 1882	Thomas Glauman Mary Duggan	Thomas Glanmore Mary Duggan 💍 1882/1359	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	34 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 5 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/1300		26 April 1882	Rev. L. Guinty
147	26 April 1882	Harry Peigh Hannah Flint	Harry Pugh Hannah Flint 💍 1882/24	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	23 21	Christchurch St. Albans	7 years 20 years	In the House of Mr. Flint	82/1341		26 April 1882	Rev. W. Morley
148	26 April 1882	Alfred Walker Widmer Annie Walker	Alfred Walker Annie Walker 💍 1882/32	Widower Spinster	Tobacconist	35 18	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 8 years	In the House of Mr. Walker	82/1348	Richard Walker, father	26 April 1882	Rev. C. Fraser
149	28 April 1882	David Henry Jones Maria Watson	David Henry Jones Maria Watson 💍 1882/1590	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Servant	35 23	Riccarton Riccarton	18 years 23 years	In the Riccarton Church	82/1334		28 April 1882	Rev. C. Bowen

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).