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 215

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar A de Courcy Potterton

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

1035

24 February 1883

Alexander Spiers Thorburn
Anne Margaret Ralph

Alexander Spiers Thorburn
Anne Margaret Ralph
💍 1883/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Amalgamator
None

24 years
22 years

Tararu
Waitekauri

14 years
15 years

Dwelling house of Mr Ralph, Waitekauri

83/968

24 February 1883

Rev. James T. Pinfold, Wesleyan Minister

No	1035
Date of Notice	24 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Spiers Thorburn	Anne Margaret Ralph
	💍 1883/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Amalgamator	None
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Waitekauri
Length of Residence	14 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Ralph, Waitekauri
Folio	83/968
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. James T. Pinfold, Wesleyan Minister

1036

24 February 1883

William Simpson
Emily Moorcraft

William Simpson
Emily Moorcraft
💍 1883/1774

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23 years
20 years

Queen St
Upper Albert St

3 years
14 years

Dwelling house of Mr Moorcraft, Upper Albert St

83/1869

Charles Martin Moorcraft, father of minor

26 February 1883

Rev. S. J. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

No	1036
Date of Notice	24 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Simpson	Emily Moorcraft
	💍 1883/1774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Queen St	Upper Albert St
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Moorcraft, Upper Albert St
Folio	83/1869
Consent	Charles Martin Moorcraft, father of minor
Date of Certificate	26 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

1037

3 March 1883

Thomas Powdrell
Elizabeth Clarke
formerly Read

Thomas Powdrell
Elizabeth Clark
💍 1883/1985

Bachelor
Widow

Bushman
None

24 years
25 years

Turua
Turua

9 years
10 years

St George's Church, Thames

83/1861

3 March 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England

No	1037
Date of Notice	3 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Powdrell	Elizabeth Clarke formerly Read
BDM Match (73%)	Thomas Powdrell	Elizabeth Clark
	💍 1883/1985
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/1861
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England

1038

5 March 1883

Archelaus Thomas
Elizabeth Ann Downs

Archelaus Thomas
Elizabeth Ann Downs
💍 1883/1986

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

27 years
22 years

Augustus St
Parawai

5 years
9 years

St George's Church, Thames

83/1862

5 March 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England

No	1038
Date of Notice	5 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archelaus Thomas	Elizabeth Ann Downs
	💍 1883/1986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	27 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Augustus St	Parawai
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/1862
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England

1039

15 March 1883

Richard McGregor
Elizabeth Taylor

Richard McGregor
Elizabeth Taylor
💍 1883/1987

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23 years
22 years

Waio Karaka
Irishtown

11 years
9 years

St George's Church, Thames

83/1863

15 March 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England

No	1039
Date of Notice	15 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard McGregor	Elizabeth Taylor
	💍 1883/1987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Waio Karaka	Irishtown
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/1863
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England

1040

15 March 1883

Joseph Harrison
Rebecca McGregor

Joseph Harrison
Rebecca McGregor
💍 1883/178

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
None

28 years
21 years

Owen St
Waio Karaka

8 years
11 years

Dwelling house of Mr George Leith, Waio Karaka

83/144

George Leith, stepfather of minor

15 March 1883

Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	1040
Date of Notice	15 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Harrison	Rebecca McGregor
	💍 1883/178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	None
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St	Waio Karaka
Length of Residence	8 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr George Leith, Waio Karaka
Folio	83/144
Consent	George Leith, stepfather of minor
Date of Certificate	15 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).