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 107

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1883

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
88	8 March 1883	Frederick Shelton Annie Brown	Frederick Shelton Annie Brown 💍 1883/82	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	23 28	Auckland Parnell	3 months 10 weeks	Office of the Reg. of Marriages Auckland	83/146	8 March 1883	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regr.
89	8 March 1883	Thomas Lee Rachael Reynolds	Thomas Lee Rachael Reynolds 💍 1883/186	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Servant	23 22	Helensville Auckland	9 years 5 years	St. Matthews Church Auckland	83/128	8 March 1883	Revd. Wm. Tebbs M.A. Church of England
90	12 March 1883	Edward Arthur Price Ellen Maria Boyd	Edward Arthur Price Ellen Maria Boyd 💍 1883/99	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller Domestic	23 22	Auckland Devonport	2 months 2 weeks	Dwelling house of Nils Eleanor Price	83/64	12 March 1883	Revd. R. M. Bree Church of England
91	13 March 1883	Joseph Orchiston Henrietta Annie Von Stormer	Joseph Orchiston Harriet Annie Von Sturmer 💍 1883/123	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Inspector	25 21	Auckland Hokianga	2 1/2 years 13 years	The Bishop's Chapel Parnell	83/88	13 March 1883	Right Revd. W. G. Cowie Bishop C. of E.
92	13 March 1883	Frederick William Kelsey Eliza Farnworth	Fredrick William Kelsey Eliza Farnsworth 💍 1883/131	Widower Spinster	Cabinet Maker Domestic	28 28	Otahuhu Otahuhu	21 years 1 year	Dwelling house of Mr. McDonald	83/95	13 March 1883	Revd. John Mackey Presbyterian
93	14 March 1883	Robert Keir Annie Maria Samson	Robert Keir Annie Maria Samson 💍 1883/148	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Teacher	28 23	Remuerar Auckland	28 years 5 years	Dwelling house Wellington Street	83/113	14 March 1883	Revd. R. Maclean Presbyterian
94	14 March 1883	Edwin Osenham Louisa White	Edwin Oxenham Louisa White 💍 1883/83	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic	30 34	Onehunga Onehunga	30 years 19 years	Office of the Regr. of Marriages Auckland	83/147	14 March 1883	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regr.
95	14 March 1883	William Henry Harrison Georgiana Doran	William Henry Harrison Georgiana Doran 💍 1883/84	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	25 25	Auckland Auckland	6 weeks 8 years	Office of the Regr. of Marriages Auckland	83/148	14 March 1883	J. Owen Lord Dep. Regr.

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).