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 115

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
145	11 April 1883	Thomas Hamilton Mary Strong	Thomas Hamilton Mary Strong 💍 1883/740	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Cook	42 23	Auckland Auckland	5 years 4 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages	83/829		11 April 1883	J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.
146	11 April 1883	Thomas Varcoe Elizabeth Jane Robins	Thomas Varcoe Elizabeth Jane Robins 💍 1883/747 Thomas Scholes Elizabeth Mary Robins 💍 1883/31	Bachelor Spinster	Ship Carpenter Domestic Duties	30 31	North Shore North Shore	5 years 14 days	Dwelling house of Thos. Varcoe, North Shore	83/815		11 April 1883	Rev. G. W. J. Spence, Wesleyan
147	13 April 1883	Samuel John Smith Mary Ann Chambers	Samuel John Smith Mary Annie Chambers 💍 1883/730	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Printeress	25 21	Ponsonby Auckland	7 years 20 years	Methodist Church, Franklyn Road	83/820		13 April 1883	Rev. Jas. Guy, Primitive Methodist
148	14 April 1883	James Murdock Ellen Kate Foley	James Murdoch Ellen Kate Foley 💍 1883/905	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	37 28	Auckland Auckland	6 weeks 3 days	St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland	83/900		14 April 1883	Rev. Walter Macdonald, Roman Catholic
149	16 April 1883	Richard Markham Bowden Rose Ellen Lawrence	Richard Morkham Bowden Rose Ellen Lawrence 💍 1883/773	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Auckland Auckland	13 years 10 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages	83/830		16 April 1883	J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.
150	17 April 1883	Charles Chamberlin Ida Talbert Williams	Charles Chamberlin Ida Talbert Williams 💍 1883/1038	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 18	Ponsonby Auckland	29 years 18 years	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland	83/839	J. G. Williams, father	17 April 1883	Rev. Wm. Tebbs, Auckland C.E.
151	17 April 1883	Thomas James Branney Henrietta Taylor Russell	Thomas James Brassey Henrietta Taylor Russell 💍 1883/976	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager	29 27	Napier Remuera	7 months 25 years	St. Mark's Church, Remuera	83/926		17 April 1883	Ven. Archt. L. Pritt B.A., Church of England
152	17 April 1883	Ernest Saxwell Mary Ann Dougherty	Ernest Saxwell Mary Ann Dougherty 💍 1883/910	Bachelor Spinster	Steward Housemaid	25 18	Auckland Auckland	6 months 18 years	St. Patrick's Church, Auckland	83/904	R. Dougherty, father	17 April 1883	Rev. Walter Macdonald, Roman Catholic
153	17 April 1883	George Foster Saunders Eliza Head	George Foster Saunders Eliza Head 💍 1883/971	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Domestic Duties	27 22	Auckland Auckland	11 years 22 years	Dwelling house of Tom Head, Grace St.	83/921		17 April 1883	Rev. Thos. Spurgeon, Baptist

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).