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 339

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar F. W. Wood

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

4 April 1883

Robert Higgins
Jane Maria Ralph

Robert Higgie
Jane Hearn Rapley
💍 1883/1123

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
21

Mo Line
Wanganui

25 years
21 years

In the Church of England Wanganui

83/1028

4 April 1883

Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	4 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Higgins	Jane Maria Ralph
BDM Match (72%)	Robert Higgie	Jane Hearn Rapley
	💍 1883/1123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Mo Line	Wanganui
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Wanganui
Folio	83/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

5 April 1883

George Greene
Sarah Kelly

George Greener
Sarah Kelly
💍 1883/1118

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

22
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

10 years
21 years

In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui

83/1023

5 April 1883

Rev. B. H. Kirk Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	5 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Greene	Sarah Kelly
BDM Match (96%)	George Greener	Sarah Kelly
	💍 1883/1118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui
Folio	83/1023
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. H. Kirk Roman Catholic

10 April 1883

Henry William Aiken
Annie McFarlane Aiken

Henry William Young
Annie McFarlane Aiken
💍 1883/1125

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

42
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
5 years

In the Church of England Wanganui

83/1029

11 April 1883

Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	10 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Aiken	Annie McFarlane Aiken
BDM Match (87%)	Henry William Young	Annie McFarlane Aiken
	💍 1883/1125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	42	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Wanganui
Folio	83/1029
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

12 April 1883

Arthur Samuel Buchanan
Sarah Barr

Arthur Samuel Chapman
Sarah Barr
💍 1883/3563

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

31
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

3 months
25 years

In the Residence of Mr John Barr, Wilson St. Wanganui

83/1019

12 April 1883

Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	12 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Samuel Buchanan	Sarah Barr
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur Samuel Chapman	Sarah Barr
	💍 1883/3563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Mr John Barr, Wilson St. Wanganui
Folio	83/1019
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

17 April 1883

John Henry de Jersey
Edith Marian Clare Turner

John Henry de Jersey Kerr
Edith Marion Turner
💍 1883/1126

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

33
32

Wanganui
Wanganui

7 days
1 month

In the Church of England Wanganui

83/1030

19 April 1883

Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	17 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry de Jersey	Edith Marian Clare Turner
BDM Match (76%)	John Henry de Jersey Kerr	Edith Marion Turner
	💍 1883/1126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	7 days	1 month
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Wanganui
Folio	83/1030
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Tudor Church of England

23 April 1883

Herbert Francis Jones
Mary Potts

Herbert Francis Jones
Mary Dobbs
💍 1883/1119

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

10 days
10 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui

83/1024

23 April 1883

F. W. Wood Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	23 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Francis Jones	Mary Potts
BDM Match (85%)	Herbert Francis Jones	Mary Dobbs
	💍 1883/1119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui
Folio	83/1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1883
Officiating Minister	F. W. Wood Registrar

25 April 1883

John Wall
Anne Elizabeth Willis

John Wall
Anne Elizabeth Willis
💍 1883/1115

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

40
24

Missionary [illegible], Wanganui
Missionary [illegible], Wanganui

10 years
4 months

At Rocks Farm, Niponui Line, Wanganui

83/1020

25 April 1883

Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	25 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wall	Anne Elizabeth Willis
	💍 1883/1115
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Missionary [illegible], Wanganui	Missionary [illegible], Wanganui
Length of Residence	10 years	4 months
Marriage Place	At Rocks Farm, Niponui Line, Wanganui
Folio	83/1020
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

26 April 1883

Arthur Elvey
Sarah Murray

Arthur Elvey
Sarah Murray
💍 1883/1120

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter

27
25

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 years
4 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui

83/1025

26 April 1883

F. W. Wood Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	26 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Elvey	Sarah Murray
	💍 1883/1120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui
Folio	83/1025
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1883
Officiating Minister	F. W. Wood Registrar

3 May 1883

Alexander Fawns
Elizabeth Henrietta Blazebrook

Alexander Tawse
Elizabeth Henrietta Glazebrook
💍 1883/1116

Alexander Brown
Elizabeth Hellier
💍 1883/866

Widower
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

40
25

Kai-iwi
Aramoho

4 years
8 months

In the Residence of Rev. Jas. Treadwell, Wanganui

83/1021

3 May 1883

Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	3 May 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fawns	Elizabeth Henrietta Blazebrook
BDM Match (88%)	Alexander Tawse	Elizabeth Henrietta Glazebrook
	💍 1883/1116
BDM Match (62%)	Alexander Brown	Elizabeth Hellier
	💍 1883/866
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Kai-iwi	Aramoho
Length of Residence	4 years	8 months
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Rev. Jas. Treadwell, Wanganui
Folio	83/1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

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).