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 749

District of Quarter ending

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
365	October 4 1882	William Hayes Maggie Carroll	William Hayes Maggie Carroll 💍 1882/2892	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	50 25	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	14 years 6 months	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/3112		4 October 1882	Rev. I. E. Chervier
366	October 5 1882	William Orr Bessie Jerguson	William Orr Bessie Sergison 💍 1882/3525	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In St Pauls Church	82/3534		5 October 1882	Rev. I. Elmslie Presbyterian
367	October 9 1882	Rupert Powels Roberts Anna Rebees O'Brien	Reginald Powea Roberts Anna Rebecca O'Brien 💍 1882/3465	Bachelor Widow	Fitter Dressmaker	22 26	St Albans St Albans	4 months 1 year	St Matthews Church	82/3395		9 October 1882	Re R. Mortimer Church of England
368	October 9 1882	Henry James West & Mary		Bachelor Spinster	Ironman Machinist	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 15 years	In St John's Church	1356	Henry Charles West & Charles Matters	9 October 1882	Rev. & E. M. Watson Church of England
369	October 10 1882	Jerence Doherty Elizabeth Traynor	Terence Doherty Elizabeth Traynor 💍 1882/3319	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/3477		10 October 1882	Rev. L. Quisty Roman Catholic
370	October 11 1882	John Bell Hannah Hassell	John Bell Hannah Hassett 💍 1882/3478	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Servant	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 3 months	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	13570		11 October 1882	Rev C. Fraser Presbyterian
371	October 11 1882	Thomas Hunter Martha Maria Pole	Thomas Hunter Richardson Andrew Martha Maria Cole 💍 1882/3137 Thomas Henson Martha Catherine Bowater 💍 1882/1478	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	55 33	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	82/3085	Richardson Andrew	11 October 1882	Registrar Malleeson
372	October 12 1882	Harding & Robert Ada Lummie Louisa		Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 10 years	In the House of Rev I. Crewes	82/3016	John Harding & Gatter	12 October 1882	Rev I. Crewes Bible Christian

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).