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 349

District of Rangitikei 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
10	7 April 1883	Frederick James Mansell Marion Paulin	Frederick James Mansell Marion Paulin 💍 1883/3553	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	27 19	Bulls Woodend	5 years 19 years	Office of Registrar	83/1031	James Paulin, father	7 April 1883	F. W. Deighton, Registrar
11	9 April 1883	Walter Bootman Alicia Maria Mary Iorns		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Greatford Greatford	3 days 11 years	St. Martin's Church Greatford	83/1036	Joshua Iorns, father	9 April 1883	Rev. W. Ballachey
12	13 April 1883	John Rooke Harriet Emma Rebecca Gibbs	John Rooke Harriet Emma Rebecca Gibbs 💍 1883/1251	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 21	Bulls Bulls	4 years 8 years	Church of England, Bulls	83/1035		13 April 1883	Rev. W. Ballachey
13	20 April 1883	Robert McAulley Margery Cameron	Robert McAulley Margery Cameron 💍 1883/1240	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 25	Turakina Valley Bulls	17 years 6 years	House of Mr. McAulley, Cameron Bulls	83/1034		20 April 1883	Rev. J. Doull
14	24 April 1883	David Barr Louisa Mary Siggelkow	David Barr Louisa Mary Sigglekow 💍 1883/1260	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 25	Marton Marton	8 years 2 weeks	Residence of Mrs. Robert Bett, Marton	83/1038		24 April 1883	Rev. W. Stewart
15	5 May 1883	Robert Curric Augustina Penner	Robert Currie Augustina Percer 💍 1883/1127	Widower Widow	Laborer Laborer	40 50	Crofton Crofton	10 months 10 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	83/1032		5 May 1883	F. W. Deighton, Registrar
16	12 May 1883	Frederick Samuel Ellerm Barbara Cockburn	Frederick Samuel Ellerm Barbara Cockburn 💍 1883/1261	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	23 19	Porewa Porewa	14 days 19 years	House of Mr. Alexander Cockburn, Porewa	83/1039	Alexander Cockburn, father	12 May 1883	Rev. W. Stewart
17	15 May 1883	Charles Bales Alice Crabb	Charles Bates Alice Crabb 💍 1883/1262	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Greatford Greatford	3 days 11 years	Residence of Mr. Ali Crabb, Greatford	83/1040		15 May 1883	Rev. W. Stewart
18	15 May 1883	Frederick William Schulze Marie Louise Goile	Friedrich Wilhelm Schutze Marie Louise Goile 💍 1883/1128	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 29	Marton Marton	8 years 20 years	Lutheran Church, Marton	83/1033		15 May 1883	Rev. C. C. N. Meyer

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).