Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 095

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar John Owen Lord deputy Registrar

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

3 January 1883

Nicholas Basey
Emma Inglis

Nicholas Casey
Emma Inglis
💍 1883/54

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

26
20

Wade
Dairy Flat

3 years
14 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland

83/19

3 January 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Basey	Emma Inglis
BDM Match (96%)	Nicholas Casey	Emma Inglis
	💍 1883/54
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wade	Dairy Flat
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/19
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

3 January 1883

John Clarke Truth
Mary Ellen Burrell

John Clarke Freeth
Mary Ellen Burrell
💍 1883/56

Widower
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

46
35

Ouchunga
Ouchunga

14 days
10 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland

83/20

3 January 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clarke Truth	Mary Ellen Burrell
BDM Match (92%)	John Clarke Freeth	Mary Ellen Burrell
	💍 1883/56
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Ouchunga	Ouchunga
Length of Residence	14 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

4 January 1883

William Adamson
Elizabeth Margaret Parkins

William Adamson
Elizabeth Margaret Parkin
💍 1883/2044

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Dressmaker

30
28

Auckland
Auckland

14 days
28 years

Independents Church

83/1460

4 January 1883

Revd B. Y. Dudley, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	4 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Adamson	Elizabeth Margaret Parkins
BDM Match (98%)	William Adamson	Elizabeth Margaret Parkin
	💍 1883/2044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Dressmaker
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Independents Church
Folio	83/1460
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd B. Y. Dudley, Church of England

4 January 1883

Michael Dalton
Ellen Broderick

Michael Dalton
Ellen Broderick
💍 1883/111

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
14 days

St Patricks Cathedral

83/45

5 January 1883

Revd W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Dalton	Ellen Broderick
	💍 1883/111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Patricks Cathedral
Folio	83/45
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

4 January 1883

John Miller
Ellen Tyler

John Miller
Ellen Tyler
💍 1883/119

Widower
Widow

Grocer
Domestic duties

59
40

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
4 years

St Patricks Cathedral

83/46

4 January 1883

Revd W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	4 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Miller	Ellen Tyler
	💍 1883/119
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	59	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Cathedral
Folio	83/46
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd W. McDonald, Roman Catholic

5 January 1883

William Trotter
Rebecca Jane Lucas

William Trotter
Rebecca June Lucas
💍 1883/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

23
21

Epsom
Mount Eden

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Kyber Pass

83/1099

5 January 1883

Revd J. McK. Fraser, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Trotter	Rebecca Jane Lucas
BDM Match (97%)	William Trotter	Rebecca June Lucas
	💍 1883/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Epsom	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kyber Pass
Folio	83/1099
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Revd J. McK. Fraser, Presbyterian

6 January 1883

Adam Smith
Sarah McCracken

Aden Smith
Sarah McCracken
💍 1883/57

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

35
34

Mount Eden
Mount Eden

30 years
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland

83/21

6 January 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

No	7
Date of Notice	6 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Smith	Sarah McCracken
BDM Match (90%)	Aden Smith	Sarah McCracken
	💍 1883/57
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Mount Eden	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	30 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/21
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regs.

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 1903. 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).