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 515

District of Picton Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar Theo. In Lawlor

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

233

4 October 1883

George Stokes Jackson
Martha Brown

George Stokes Jackson
Martha Brown
💍 1883/2891

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

41 years
27 years

Picton
Picton

3 days
27 years

Holy Trinity Church

83/2940

4 October 1883

Rev. H. F. Butt Minister of Church of England

No	233
Date of Notice	4 October 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stokes Jackson	Martha Brown
	💍 1883/2891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	41 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	83/2940
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. F. Butt Minister of Church of England

234

21 November 1883

Francis Robert Godfrey
Elizabeth Rabone

Francis Robert Godfrey
Elizabeth Rabone
💍 1883/2892

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

21 years
19 years

Picton
Picton

21 years
11 years

Holy Trinity Church

83/2941

Barnett Rabone Father

21 November 1883

Rev. W. A. Whyte Minister of Church of England

No	234
Date of Notice	21 November 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Robert Godfrey	Elizabeth Rabone
	💍 1883/2892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	21 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	83/2941
Consent	Barnett Rabone Father
Date of Certificate	21 November 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Whyte Minister of Church of England

235

6 December 1883

Francis Whiting
Sarah Clemens

Francis Whiting
Sarah Clemens
💍 1883/2894

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

28 years
20 years

Picton
Picton

6 weeks
20 years

In Mr. Clemens house, Picton

83/2943

Evanns Clemens Father

6 December 1883

Rev. G. K. Stowell Minister of Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

No	235
Date of Notice	6 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Whiting	Sarah Clemens
	💍 1883/2894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Picton	Picton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	In Mr. Clemens house, Picton
Folio	83/2943
Consent	Evanns Clemens Father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Stowell Minister of Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

236

14 December 1883

John Newth
Elizabeth Clemens

John Newth
Elizabeth Clemens
💍 1883/2895

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

33 years
21 years

Blenheim
Shakespeare Bay

14 days Mr. Clemens house Shakespeare Bay
21 years Picton

83/2944

14 December 1883

Rev. G. K. Stowell Minister of Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

No	236
Date of Notice	14 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Newth	Elizabeth Clemens
	💍 1883/2895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	33 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Shakespeare Bay
Length of Residence	14 days Mr. Clemens house Shakespeare Bay	21 years Picton
Marriage Place
Folio	83/2944
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Stowell Minister of Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

237

24 December 1883

Edward Nicholas Madden
Eliza Jane Thomas

Edward Nicholas Madden
Eliza June Thomas
💍 1883/2893

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
22 years

Koromiko
Koromiko

10 years
4 days miss Koromiko

St. Johns Church in the Wither

83/2942

24 December 1883

Rev. W. A. Whyte Minister of Church of England

No	237
Date of Notice	24 December 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Nicholas Madden	Eliza Jane Thomas
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Nicholas Madden	Eliza June Thomas
	💍 1883/2893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Koromiko	Koromiko
Length of Residence	10 years	4 days miss Koromiko
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church in the Wither
Folio	83/2942
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Whyte Minister of Church of England

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).