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 119

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar John Owen Lord, Dep. 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

177

1 May 1883

Charles England
Mary Priest MN Keitt

Charles England
Mary Priest
💍 1883/774

Bachelor
Widow

Shoemaker

48
42

Waikato
Waikato

34 years
18 years

Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland

83/839

1 May 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

No	177
Date of Notice	1 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles England	Mary Priest MN Keitt
BDM Match (78%)	Charles England	Mary Priest
	💍 1883/774
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Waikato	Waikato
Length of Residence	34 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/839
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

178

1 May 1883

Samuel Booth
Annie Smith MN Askew

Samuel Booth
Priscilla Smith
💍 1883/796

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

40
42

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
10 years

Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland

83/837

1 May 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

No	178
Date of Notice	1 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Booth	Annie Smith MN Askew
BDM Match (58%)	Samuel Booth	Priscilla Smith
	💍 1883/796
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/837
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

179

2 May 1883

Charles Edward Ellis
Millicent Wigg

Charles Edward Ellis
Millicent Wigg
💍 1883/746

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
21

Waikato
Hampshire

1 year
21 years

Dwelling house of Rev. W. G. Spence North Shore

83/814

2 May 1883

Rev. W. G. Spence Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	2 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Ellis	Millicent Wigg
	💍 1883/746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Waikato	Hampshire
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Rev. W. G. Spence North Shore
Folio	83/814
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Spence Presbyterian

180

3 May 1883

Alfred Wood
Margaret Donahoe

Alfred Wood
Margaret Donahoe
💍 1883/797

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

37
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland

83/838

3 May 1883

J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

No	180
Date of Notice	3 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Wood	Margaret Donahoe
	💍 1883/797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Reg. Marriages Auckland
Folio	83/838
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Dep. Reg.

181

3 May 1883

James Carnegie MacMullen
Gertrude Alice Brush

James Carnegie MacMullen
Gertrude Alice Brush
💍 1883/744

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

26
22

Coromandel
Auckland

9 months
3 days

St. Mary's Church Parnell

83/812

3 May 1883

Rev. G. S. Walpole Church of England

No	181
Date of Notice	3 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carnegie MacMullen	Gertrude Alice Brush
	💍 1883/744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Coromandel	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church Parnell
Folio	83/812
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Walpole Church of England

182

3 May 1883

Thomas Martin Roe
Mary Ann Keogh

Thomas Martin Roe
Mary Ann Keogh
💍 1883/806

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Auckland
Mount Eden

23 years
18 months

St. Benedict's Church Newton

83/871

Father

3 May 1883

Rev. J. C. Downey Roman Catholic

No	182
Date of Notice	3 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Martin Roe	Mary Ann Keogh
	💍 1883/806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	23 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church Newton
Folio	83/871
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	3 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Downey Roman Catholic

183

4 May 1883

James Davis
Frances Ann Goodwyn

James Davis
Frances Anne Goodwyn
💍 1883/989

Widower
Spinster

Native Interpreter

65
37

North Shore
Auckland

5 years
18 months

St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland

83/915

4 May 1883

Rev. B. Y. Dudley Church of England

No	183
Date of Notice	4 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davis	Frances Ann Goodwyn
BDM Match (98%)	James Davis	Frances Anne Goodwyn
	💍 1883/989
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Native Interpreter
Age	65	37
Dwelling Place	North Shore	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland
Folio	83/915
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Y. Dudley Church of England

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).