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 557

District of Waimea South Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar Eliab Baigent

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

18 July 1883

Thomas Gowland Eden
Marion Hastilow

Thomas Gowland Eden
Marion Hastilow
💍 1883/2328

Bachelor
Spinster

Hop Grower

28
22

Wakefield, Waimea South
Brightwater, Waimea South

28 years
22 years

St. Pauls Church, Spring Grove

83/2092

18 July 1883

Rev. C. O. Mules, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	18 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gowland Eden	Marion Hastilow
	💍 1883/2328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hop Grower
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wakefield, Waimea South	Brightwater, Waimea South
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Spring Grove
Folio	83/2092
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O. Mules, Church of England

6 August 1883

William Henry Phillips
Hannah Hunt

William Henry Phillips Junior
Hannah Hunt
💍 1883/2330

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

38
19

Sherry, Waimea South
Wakefield, Waimea South

17 years
19 years

Residence of William Hunt, Wakefield

83/2094

William Hunt, father

6 August 1883

Rev. St. Clair Y. Tisdall, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	6 August 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Phillips	Hannah Hunt
BDM Match (88%)	William Henry Phillips Junior	Hannah Hunt
	💍 1883/2330
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Sherry, Waimea South	Wakefield, Waimea South
Length of Residence	17 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Hunt, Wakefield
Folio	83/2094
Consent	William Hunt, father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. St. Clair Y. Tisdall, Church of England

22 August 1883

James Meyer
Harriett Wheeler

James Meyer
Harriett Wheeler
💍 1883/2321

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

33
24

Sherry, Waimea South
Wakefield, Waimea South

6 years
3 months

83/2091

22 August 1883

Eliab Baigent, Registrar of Marriages

No	12
Date of Notice	22 August 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Meyer	Harriett Wheeler
	💍 1883/2321
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Sherry, Waimea South	Wakefield, Waimea South
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Register Office, Wakefield
Folio	83/2091
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1883
Officiating Minister	Eliab Baigent, Registrar of Marriages

15 September 1883

Alfred George Knapp
Ida Newth

Alfred George Knapp
Ida Newth
💍 1883/2329

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Spring Grove, Waimea South
Spring Grove, Waimea South

24 years
17 years

St. Pauls Church, Spring Grove

83/2093

15 September 1883

Rev. C.O. Mules, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	15 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Knapp	Ida Newth
	💍 1883/2329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Spring Grove, Waimea South	Spring Grove, Waimea South
Length of Residence	24 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Spring Grove
Folio	83/2093
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.O. Mules, Church of England

27 September 1883

John William Palmer
Eliza Emma Masters

John William Palmer
Eliza Emma Masters
💍 1883/2822

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Spring Grove, Waimea South
Spring Grove, Waimea South

3 days
16 years

Residence of Charles Masters, Spring Grove

83/2993

Charles Masters, father

27 September 1883

Rev. William Kirk, Wesleyan Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	27 September 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Palmer	Eliza Emma Masters
	💍 1883/2822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Spring Grove, Waimea South	Spring Grove, Waimea South
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Masters, Spring Grove
Folio	83/2993
Consent	Charles Masters, father
Date of Certificate	27 September 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Kirk, Wesleyan Methodist

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).