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

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
17	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
18	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
19	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
20	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
21	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
22	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
23	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
24	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
25	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

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).