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 217

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar Alexander 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

1042

5 April 1883

Peter Smith
Margaret Muldoon

Peter Smith
Margaret Muldoon
💍 1883/1068

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

22
19

Irishtown
Waiotahi

12 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church of St Francis Thames

83/969

James McIntyre, uncle of minor

5 April 1883

Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

No	1042
Date of Notice	5 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Smith	Margaret Muldoon
	💍 1883/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Irishtown	Waiotahi
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St Francis Thames
Folio	83/969
Consent	James McIntyre, uncle of minor
Date of Certificate	5 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick O'Reilly, Roman Catholic Minister

1043

16 April 1883

Samuel Rowe
Albertina Bribke
formerly Fischer

Samuel Rowe
Albertina Bribke
💍 1883/1084

Widower
Widow

Miner
None

46
38

Pollen St.
Owen St

14 years
7 years

Dwelling house of Mr Rowe, Tararu

83/964

16 April 1883

Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

No	1043
Date of Notice	16 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Rowe	Albertina Bribke formerly Fischer
	💍 1883/1084
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	None
Age	46	38
Dwelling Place	Pollen St.	Owen St
Length of Residence	14 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Rowe, Tararu
Folio	83/964
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

1044

23 April 1883

Benjamin Barker
Alice Spalding

Benjamin Barker
Alice Spalding
💍 1883/1077

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

25
21

Moanataiari
Owen St.

2 years
10 years

Dwelling house of Mr Barker, Daillie St

83/960

23 April 1883

Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	1044
Date of Notice	23 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Barker	Alice Spalding
	💍 1883/1077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Moanataiari	Owen St.
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Barker, Daillie St
Folio	83/960
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Barley, Primitive Methodist Minister

1045

26 April 1883

William Henry Pasco Marsdon
Annie Maria Cleveland

Mathew Henry Pasa Marsdon
Annie Cleveland
💍 1883/1034

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

23
21

Pollen St
Willoughby St

16 months
10 years

St George's Church, Thames

83/958

26 April 1883

Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

No	1045
Date of Notice	26 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Pasco Marsdon	Annie Maria Cleveland
BDM Match (69%)	Mathew Henry Pasa Marsdon	Annie Cleveland
	💍 1883/1034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Willoughby St
Length of Residence	16 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	83/958
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Calder, Church of England Minister

1046

1 May 1883

John Guest Ralph
Catherine Mailer Steedman

John Guest Ralph
Catherine Mailer Steedman
💍 1883/1066

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery Manager
None

26
22

Ohinemuri
Tararu

13 years
13 years

Dwelling house of Mr J. B. Steedman, Tararu

83/959

1 May 1883

Rev. S J Neill, Presbyterian Minister

No	1046
Date of Notice	1 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Guest Ralph	Catherine Mailer Steedman
	💍 1883/1066
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery Manager	None
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Ohinemuri	Tararu
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr J. B. Steedman, Tararu
Folio	83/959
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. S J Neill, Presbyterian Minister

1047

8 May 1883

Allan Wilson
Mary Ann Trezise

Allan Wilson
Mary Ann Trezise
💍 1883/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

27
20

Waiotahi Creek
Waiotahi Creek

14 years
8 years

Dwelling house of Mr Treize, Waiotahi Creek

83/965

Henry Trezise, father of minor

8 May 1883

Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan Minister

No	1047
Date of Notice	8 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Wilson	Mary Ann Trezise
	💍 1883/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Waiotahi Creek	Waiotahi Creek
Length of Residence	14 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Treize, Waiotahi Creek
Folio	83/965
Consent	Henry Trezise, father of minor
Date of Certificate	8 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bull, Wesleyan 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).