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 369

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

1 January 1883

James Bergman
Anna Christiana Mikkelsen

Janne Bergman
Christine Mikkelsen
💍 1883/270

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
7 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

83/234

Jorgen Mikkelsen, Father

6 January 1883

Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

No	3
Date of Notice	1 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bergman	Anna Christiana Mikkelsen
BDM Match (74%)	Janne Bergman	Christine Mikkelsen
	💍 1883/270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	83/234
Consent	Jorgen Mikkelsen, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

6 February 1883

John McLennan
Anna Eliza Prouse

John McLennan
Ann Eliza Prouse
💍 1883/3207

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

35 years
19 years

Longburn
Longburn

4 days
4 years

At the House of John McLennan Longburn

83/3635

Ann Prouse, Mother

6 February 1883

Rev A M Wright, Presbyterian Minister Palmerston North

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLennan	Anna Eliza Prouse
BDM Match (97%)	John McLennan	Ann Eliza Prouse
	💍 1883/3207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	35 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Longburn	Longburn
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	At the House of John McLennan Longburn
Folio	83/3635
Consent	Ann Prouse, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev A M Wright, Presbyterian Minister Palmerston North

12 February 1883

George Benson
Isabella Esther Pass

George Benson Bradford
Isabella Esther Parr
💍 1883/274

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

31 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 years

All Saints Church Palmerston N.

83/241

Jemima Tolkest, Mother

12 February 1883

Rt. Rev. O. Hadfield, Bishop of Wellington

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Benson	Isabella Esther Pass
BDM Match (75%)	George Benson Bradford	Isabella Esther Parr
	💍 1883/274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	31 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Palmerston N.
Folio	83/241
Consent	Jemima Tolkest, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. O. Hadfield, Bishop of Wellington

13 February 1883

Harry Arthur King
Edith Annie Lewis

Harry Arthur King
Edith Annie Lewis
💍 1883/275

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

25 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
3 months

All Saints Church Palmerston N.

83/242

George Lewis, Father

13 February 1883

Rt. Rev. O. Hadfield, Bishop of Wellington

No	6
Date of Notice	13 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Arthur King	Edith Annie Lewis
	💍 1883/275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Palmerston N.
Folio	83/242
Consent	George Lewis, Father
Date of Certificate	13 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. O. Hadfield, Bishop of Wellington

9 March 1883

Charles Measum
Emma Deborah Gardiner

Charles Marsom
Emma Deborah Gardiner
💍 1883/271

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24 years
18 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

83/238

William Henry Gardiner, Father

9 March 1883

Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

No	7
Date of Notice	9 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Measum	Emma Deborah Gardiner
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Marsom	Emma Deborah Gardiner
	💍 1883/271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	83/238
Consent	William Henry Gardiner, Father
Date of Certificate	9 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

16 March 1883

Anders Ingem Neilson
Bodil Christine Matzen
formerly Hemmingsen

Bachelor
Widower

Laborer

20 years
48 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

83/236

16 March 1883

Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

No	8
Date of Notice	16 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anders Ingem Neilson	Bodil Christine Matzen formerly Hemmingsen
Condition	Bachelor	Widower
Profession	Laborer
Age	20 years	48 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	83/236
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling, Registrar Palmerston North

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).