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 403

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
165	3 September 1883	Orlando Lagor Elizabeth Philpot	Orlando Philpot Elizabeth Philpot 💍 1883/1864	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	27 35	Wellington Wellington	5 months years	Wesleyan Church	83/1986		3 September 1883	Rev. Rainsford Brown
166	4 September 1883	Frederick Thomas Turner Hannah Ellen Turner	Frederick Thomas Hannah Ellen Turner 💍 1883/1863	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	28 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mr. Turner's House, Taranaki Street	83/1985	James Turner, Father	4 September 1883	Rev. Rainsford Brown
167	4 September 1883	William Palmer Thirza Knight	William Palmer Thirza Knight 💍 1883/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	31 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mr. Hurlstone's House, Clyde Quay	83/1996		4 September 1883	Rev. H. B. Redstone
168	4 September 1883	Johann Runge Magdalene Jager	Johann Runge Magdalene Sager 💍 1883/1910	Bachelor Widow	Brewer	44 43	Wellington Wellington	3 days 10 months	Registrar's Office	83/1960		4 September 1883	A. M. Smith, Deputy
169	10 September 1883	Thomas Trowell Mary Jane Batten	Thomas Trowell Mary Jane Batten 💍 1883/1911	Widower Widow	Boot & Shoe maker	60 37	Wellington Wellington	9 months years	Registrar's Office	83/1961		10 September 1883	J. G. Holasworth
170	11 September 1883	Henry Stebley Helena Parker	Henry Hebley Helena Barker 💍 1883/1874	Bachelor Spinster	Boilermaker	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	83/1973		11 September 1883	Venble Archdeacon Stock
171	11 September 1883	James Donald Sarah Jane Lancaster	James Donald Sarah Jane Lancaster 💍 1883/1913	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 19	Karori Karori	8 days years	St. Mary's Church, Karori	83/1963	Stephen Lancaster, Father	11 September 1883	Rev. Alexander Drewent
172	13 September 1883	Patrick Henry Duncan Frances Mary Long	Patrick Henry Duncan Frances Mary Long 💍 1883/1912	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	26 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	Registrar's Office	83/1962		13 September 1883	J. G. Holasworth
173	19 September 1883	John Neill Elizabeth Harriet Elliott	John Neil Harriett Elizabeth Elliott 💍 1883/1866	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 18	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years Do	St. James's Church, Lower Hutt	83/1988	Edward Elliott, Father	17 September 1883	Rev. Thomas Fancourt
174	17 September 1883	William Thomas Leever Mary Millward	William Thomas Leevey Mary Millward 💍 1883/1926	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. John's Church, Willis Street	83/2002		17 September 1883	Rev. James Paterson
175	25 September 1883	William Sparrow Elizabeth Frances Goff	William Sparrow Elizabeth Frances Goff 💍 1883/2722	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	26 19	Stokes Valley Stokes Valley	years years	Registrar's Office	83/1984	No relative in Colony	4 October 1883	Registrar
176	26 September 1883	George Brichton Jones Annie Toms	George Crichton Annie Toms 💍 1883/2733	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mr. Jones' House, Ingestre Street	83/1977		26 September 1883	Rev. H. B. Redstone

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).