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 259

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar Thomas Edward Clough

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

9 January 1883

Francis Hicks
Mary Allan

Francis Hicks
Mary Allan
💍 1883/201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

43 years
26 years

Puke Kura
Alexandra

9 years
about 4 years near Alexandra

The residence of Mr Allan

83/168

9 January 1883

Rev E J Phillips, Ch of England

No	19
Date of Notice	9 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hicks	Mary Allan
	💍 1883/201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Puke Kura	Alexandra
Length of Residence	9 years	about 4 years near Alexandra
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Allan
Folio	83/168
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev E J Phillips, Ch of England

30 January 1883

Frank Robinson Gibson
Marion Jean Wallace

Frank Robinson Gibson
Maria Jean Wallace
💍 1883/199

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

24 years
19 years

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu near Te Awamutu

12 years
3 days

The residence of Mr John N Gibson

83/164

George Wallace, Father

30 January 1883

Rev William Evans, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	30 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Robinson Gibson	Marion Jean Wallace
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Robinson Gibson	Maria Jean Wallace
	💍 1883/199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu near Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	12 years	3 days
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr John N Gibson
Folio	83/164
Consent	George Wallace, Father
Date of Certificate	30 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev William Evans, Presbyterian

30 January 1883

George Cooper McKeown
Elizabeth Jane McKeown

George Cooper
Elizabeth Jane McKeown
💍 1883/202

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

23 years
19 years

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

2 years
8 years

The Church of England at Kihikihi

83/169

Elizabeth Jane McKeown, Mother

31 January 1883

Rev Edward J Phillips, Ch of England

No	21
Date of Notice	30 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cooper McKeown	Elizabeth Jane McKeown
BDM Match (81%)	George Cooper	Elizabeth Jane McKeown
	💍 1883/202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Kihikihi
Folio	83/169
Consent	Elizabeth Jane McKeown, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev Edward J Phillips, Ch of England

7 March 1883

John Earry Clifford
Lilly Curran

John Clifford
Lily Curran
💍 1883/203

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

26 years
21 years

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

14 days
1 month

The residence of F Moody

83/140

7 March 1883

Rev Augustus Luck, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	7 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Earry Clifford	Lilly Curran
BDM Match (80%)	John Clifford	Lily Curran
	💍 1883/203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	14 days	1 month
Marriage Place	The residence of F Moody
Folio	83/140
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev Augustus Luck, Roman Catholic

16 March 1883

Archibald Millar
Hannah Rattrass

Archibald Millar
Hannah Mattrass
💍 1883/3556

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23 years
20 years

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

3 years
3 years

The residence of Joseph Nattrass Kihikihi

83/182

Declaration made under section 27

W Evans

No	23
Date of Notice	16 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Millar	Hannah Rattrass
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald Millar	Hannah Mattrass
	💍 1883/3556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Joseph Nattrass Kihikihi
Folio	83/182
Consent	Declaration made under section 27
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	W Evans

26 March 1883

James Reilly
Ellen Neal

James Reilly
Ellen Weal
💍 1883/200

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21 years
18 years

Orakau
Te Rahu at Ohaupo

3 years
10 years

The Roman Catholic Church at Ohaupo

83/164

James Neal, Father

26 March 1883

Rev Augustus Luck, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	26 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reilly	Ellen Neal
BDM Match (95%)	James Reilly	Ellen Weal
	💍 1883/200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Orakau	Te Rahu at Ohaupo
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church at Ohaupo
Folio	83/164
Consent	James Neal, Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev Augustus Luck, Roman Catholic

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).