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 475

District of Hastings Hawkes Bay 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
14	5 July 1883	Alexander Ross Louisa Maria Burgers	Alexander Ross Louisa Maria Burgess 💍 1883/2088 Alexander Ross Ethel Emily Boreham 💍 1884/458	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	25 18	Maraekakaho Maraekakaho	6 years 3 years	Residence of Thomas Burgers Maraekakaho	83/2029	Thomas Burgers father	3 July 1883	William Nicol Presbyterian Minister
15	9 July 1883	John Anglim Mary Milleen	John Anglim Mary Killeen 💍 1883/2090	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	23 24	Hastings Hastings	2 years 18 months	Church of Sacred Heart - Hastings	83/2031		9 July 1883	Euloge Reignier Roman Catholic Priest
16	16 July 1883	James Abraham Warrelow Hannah McDougall	James Abraham Warrilow Hannah McDougall 💍 1883/2092	Bachelor Widow	Fish Curator Domestic	40 39	Hastings Hastings	10 years 5 years	St-Luke's Church Havelock	83/2033		16 July 1883	H Woodford St-Hill Church of England Minister
17	21 August 1883	James Curry Maria Lonegan	James Curry Maria Londergan 💍 1883/1999	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Proprietor Domestic	24 21	Havelock Havelock	3 years 2 years	Residence of David Sidey Napier	83/2050		21 August 1883	David Sidey Presbyterian Minister
18	27 August 1883	James Hennessey Bridget O'Sullivan	James Hennessey Bridget O'Sullivan 💍 1883/3336 James Russell Bridget O'Sullivan 💍 1884/2463	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 21	Hastings Hastings	3 years 6 months	Mission Station Meanee & Bay	83/3541		27 August 1883	Euloge Reignier Roman Catholic Priest
19	11 September 1883	Frederick Wanslyn William Elina Mary Brathwaite	Frederic Wanklyn Williams Elina Mary Brathwaite 💍 1883/2094	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Domestic	28 25	Havelock Havelock	3 days 18 months	St-Luke's Church Havelock	83/2034		11 September 1883	Archdeacon W L Williams Church of England Minister
20	15 September 1883	George Marshall Mary Ann Macdonald	George Marshall Mary Ann McDonald 💍 1883/2001 George Marshall Mary Senior 💍 1883/145	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic	21 21	Havelock Pukahaw	15 months 8 years	St Paul's Church Napier	83/2052		15 September 1883	David Sidey Presbyterian Minister
21	24 September 1883	Charles Gilbert Lys Mary Ann Groves	Charles Gilbert Lys Mary Ann Groves 💍 1883/2095	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor Domestic	26 22	Hastings Hastings	6 years 10 months	St-Luke's Church Havelock	83/2035		24 September 1883	H Woodford St-Hill Church of England Minister
22	29 September 1883	John Dickey Margaret Lines	John Hickey Margaret Lyons 💍 1883/3343 John Kyle Margaret Dignan 💍 1884/103 John Linnehan Margaret Hickey 💍 1883/2751 John Cumner Margaret Glen 💍 1883/2419 John Murphy Margaret Duncan 💍 1884/1896 John Perry Margaret Wilson 💍 1883/661	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman Domestic	25 27	Hastings Hastings	4 years 2 years	Mission Station Meanee & Bay	83/3542		29 September 1883	Euloge Reignier R.C. Priest

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).