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 241

District of Turanga Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar Graham L. Greenwood

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

325

3 April 1883

Henry Warren
Georgiana Arden

Henry Warren
Georgiana Ardern
💍 1883/1074

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
15 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

83/975

3 April 1883

G. L. Greenwood Registrar of Marriages

No	325
Date of Notice	3 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Warren	Georgiana Arden
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Warren	Georgiana Ardern
	💍 1883/1074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	15 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	83/975
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1883
Officiating Minister	G. L. Greenwood Registrar of Marriages

326

22 May 1883

Joseph Bruce Butler
Catherine Collins

Bachelor
Widow

Saddler

27
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
3 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne

83/2452

22 May 1883

Rev. Richard Boyle

No	326
Date of Notice	22 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bruce Butler	Catherine Collins
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Saddler
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne
Folio	83/2452
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Boyle

327

7 June 1883

Charles William Rendon
Annie Maria Magon

Charles William Reardon
Annie Maria Morgan
💍 1883/1075

Charles William Reardon
Annie Maria Morgan
💍 1883/3307

Charles William Turner
Annie Elfrida Rosewarne
💍 1883/2248

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

27
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
10 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne and the St Andrews Church at Gisborne

83/1916, 83/3571

7 June 1883

Rev. Richard Boyle and Rev. John McRae

No	327
Date of Notice	7 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Rendon	Annie Maria Magon
BDM Match (87%)	Charles William Reardon	Annie Maria Morgan
	💍 1883/1075
BDM Match (87%)	Charles William Reardon	Annie Maria Morgan
	💍 1883/3307
BDM Match (60%)	Charles William Turner	Annie Elfrida Rosewarne
	💍 1883/2248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne and the St Andrews Church at Gisborne
Folio	83/1916, 83/3571
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Boyle and Rev. John McRae

328

11 June 1883

Arden Gallagher
Mary Golding

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
24

Patutahi
Gisborne

7 years
4 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne

11 June 1883

Rev. Richard Boyle

No	328
Date of Notice	11 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arden Gallagher	Mary Golding
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Patutahi	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Gisborne
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Boyle

329

30 June 1883

Ni Panata Puna
Keita Rangiwhaitiri

Ni Parata Puna
Keita Rangiwhaitiri
💍 1883/1761

Bachelor
Spinster

Aboriginal Native
Aboriginal Native

21
21

Awapuni
Awapuni

2 weeks
21 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

83/1880

30 June 1883

G. L. Greenwood Registrar of Marriages

No	329
Date of Notice	30 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ni Panata Puna	Keita Rangiwhaitiri
BDM Match (96%)	Ni Parata Puna	Keita Rangiwhaitiri
	💍 1883/1761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aboriginal Native	Aboriginal Native
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Awapuni	Awapuni
Length of Residence	2 weeks	21 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	83/1880
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1883
Officiating Minister	G. L. Greenwood Registrar of Marriages

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).