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 405

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
178	16 October 1883	Alexander Dick Eliza Welsh	Alexander Dick Eliza Welsh 💍 1883/2719	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	25 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12784		16 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
179	16 October 1883	Samuel James Hampton Alice June Faulkner	Samuel James Hampton Alice Jane Faulkner 💍 1883/2767	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	32 29	Wellington Wellington	10 months 2 months	St. Pauls Cathedral	83/12862		16 October 1883	Revd. R. J. Thorpe
180	2 October 1883	James Francis Hickley Martha Larcombe	James Francis Heckler Martha Larcombe 💍 1883/2766	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	26 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St Pauls Cathedral	83/12861		2 October 1883	Revd. R. J. Thorpe
181	3 October 1883	James Kirker Marion Lockie	James Kirker Marion Lockie 💍 1883/2779	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Manager	27 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St Johns Church	83/12818		3 October 1883	Revd. James Paterson
182	5 October 1883	Alfred Augustus Stickland Danby Lucy Jane Hill Waters	Alfred Augustus Strickland Danby Lucy Jane Mill Waters 💍 1883/2768	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	25 31	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	St Pauls Cathedral	83/12863		5 October 1883	Revd. R. J. Thorpe
183	5 October 1883	William Henry Keasberry Mary Ann Compton	William Henry Keasberry Mary Ann Compton 💍 1883/2739	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	29 22	Kilbirnie Kilbirnie	3 years 3 years	St Marks Church	83/12780		5 October 1883	Revd. Richard Coffey
184	6 October 1883	John Charles Curry Elizabeth Fallows	John Charles Curry Elizabeth Tollens 💍 1883/2720	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 21	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12785		6 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
185	8 October 1883	James Mallcott Richardson Kate O'Neill	James Mallcott Richardson Katie O'Neill 💍 1883/2721	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 21	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12786		8 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
186	10 October 1883	George Vosseler Anna Marie Therese Wulf	George Vosseler Anna Marie Therese Wulff 💍 1883/2723	Widower Spinster	Baker	33 40	Wellington Wellington	3 years 14 days	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12788		10 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
187	15 October 1883	Patrick Hopkins Catherine Clark	Patrick Hopkins Catherine Clarke 💍 1883/2770	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 25	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	St Mary of the Angels	83/12865		15 October 1883	Revd. P. Kerrigan
188	17 October 1883	George Henry Highley Elizabeth Rachel Jones	George Henry Highley Elizabeth Rachel Norris 💍 1883/2724	Bachelor Spinster	Woolsorter	25 17	Johnsonville Johnsonville	3 years 3 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12789	William Jones Father	17 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
189	17 October 1883	Christopher John Story Annie Baker	Christopher John Story Annie Baker 💍 1883/2725	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	29 21	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 4 months	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12790		17 October 1883	J. G. Holdsworth

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).