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 257

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar B. C. Beale

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

103

27 October 1883

Thomas McDonald
Elizabeth Thompson Russell

Thomas McDonald
Elizabeth Thomson Russell
💍 1883/2701

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
23

Piako
Piako

10 years at the house of Mr. Thomas
5 years Russell, Piako

83/764

27 October 1883

Rev. W. Evans, Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	27 October 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McDonald	Elizabeth Thompson Russell
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas McDonald	Elizabeth Thomson Russell
	💍 1883/2701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Piako	Piako
Length of Residence	10 years at the house of Mr. Thomas	5 years Russell, Piako
Marriage Place
Folio	83/764
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Evans, Presbyterian

104

27 November 1883

John Thomas Davis
Sarah Davis

John Thomas Davis
Sarah Davis
💍 1883/2695

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
20

Hamilton
Hamilton

10 years at the Italian Church
7 years Hamilton

Italian Church

83/810

Silverton Davis, Father

27 November 1883

Rev. R. O. Bigge, Episcopalian

No	104
Date of Notice	27 November 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Davis	Sarah Davis
	💍 1883/2695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	10 years at the Italian Church	7 years Hamilton
Marriage Place	Italian Church
Folio	83/810
Consent	Silverton Davis, Father
Date of Certificate	27 November 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. O. Bigge, Episcopalian

105

29 December 1883

William Henry Graake
Margaret Ryan

William Mahon
Margaret Ryan
💍 1883/3024

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
27

"Woodlands" Taupiri
"Woodlands" Taupiri

2 years at the Roman Catholic Church
2 1/2 years Hamilton

Roman Catholic Church

29 December 1883

Rev. Father Fox, Roman Catholic

No	105
Date of Notice	29 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Graake	Margaret Ryan
BDM Match (73%)	William Mahon	Margaret Ryan
	💍 1883/3024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	"Woodlands" Taupiri	"Woodlands" Taupiri
Length of Residence	2 years at the Roman Catholic Church	2 1/2 years Hamilton
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Fox, Roman Catholic

106

31 December 1883

Thomas Robinson
Mary Anne Coop

Thomas Robinson
Mary Annie Coop
💍 1884/228

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
25

Piako Road
Piako Road

6 months at the house of Rev. J. Dukes
6 months Hamilton

House of Rev. J. Dukes

84/184

31 December 1883

Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan

No	106
Date of Notice	31 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Robinson	Mary Anne Coop
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Robinson	Mary Annie Coop
	💍 1884/228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Piako Road	Piako Road
Length of Residence	6 months at the house of Rev. J. Dukes	6 months Hamilton
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Dukes
Folio	84/184
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan

107

31 December 1883

Stephen Tucker
Ellen Georgina

Stephen Tucker
Ellen Scorgie
💍 1884/227

Widower
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
18

Hamilton
Hamilton

9 years at the house of Mr. Gibbs
4 years Hamilton

House of Mr. Gibbs

84/186

Jane Gibbs, Mother

31 December 1883

Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan

No	107
Date of Notice	31 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Tucker	Ellen Georgina
BDM Match (74%)	Stephen Tucker	Ellen Scorgie
	💍 1884/227
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 years at the house of Mr. Gibbs	4 years Hamilton
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Gibbs
Folio	84/186
Consent	Jane Gibbs, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, Wesleyan

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).