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 654

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 30 June 1873

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
397	17 March 1873	Arthur John Miller Catherine Ann Jane McManus	Arthur John Miller Catherine Ann Jane McManus 💍 1883/1369	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Dressmaker	27 years 20 years	Rangiora Rangiora	10 years 5 years	Office of Registrar	83/1257	No parent or Guardian	1 April 1873	A. H. Cummingham Registrar
398	30 April 1873	John William Richard Susan Young	John William Orchard Susan Young 💍 1883/1370	Bachelor Widow	Farmer not any	26 years 36 years	Mandeville Mandeville	6 months 6 years	Office of Registrar	83/1252	Certificate given	30 April 1873	A. H. Cummingham Registrar
399	2 May 1873	Alexander Frances McDonald Kate Happyly Hegarty	Alexander Francis McDonald Kate Hegarty 💍 1883/1367	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	27 years 21 years	Leffore Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 2 years	Roman Catholic	83/1249		2 May 1873	Revd. Ph. Busfield Roman Catholic
400	14 May 1873	Will Harmer Butterwork Frances Margaret Lilly	Will Hamer Butterworth Frances Margaret Lilly 💍 1883/1362	Bachelor Spinster	N Z Civil Service not any	24 years 24 years	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 24 years	Church of England	83/1244		14 May 1873	Revd. B. W. Dudley Ch. of England
401	23 May 1873	William Stocome Annie Nicholls	William Slocombe Annie Nicholls 💍 1883/1374	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker not any	26 years 21 years	Southbrook Southbrook	3 days 3 days	Dwelling House of Mrs. Ross Southbrook	83/1253		23 May 1873	Revd. John Smith Wesleyan
402	1 June 1873	Walter Newlan Mary Jane McLoughlin		Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic Servant	23 years 21 years	Rangiora Rangiora	6 months 1 month	Office of Registrar		Not required
403	2 June 1873	William busing Lydia Susan Sutherland	William Wadey Lydia Jane Sutherland 💍 1883/1364	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter not any	30 years 23 years	Rangiora Rangiora	7 years 2 years	Free Methodist Church	83/1246		2 June 1873	Revd. John Parkin Free Methodist
404	4 June 1873	Joseph Henry Walter Elizabeth Annie Blackmore	Joseph Henry Walters Elizabeth Annie Blackmore 💍 1883/1372	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer not any	21 years 20 years	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 3 days	Office of Registrar	83/1253	John David Blackmore father	4 June 1873	A. H. Cummingham Registrar
405	8 June 1873	George Richard George Mary Norton	George Richard George Mary Horton 💍 1883/1368	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper not any	24 years 19 years	Wood End Wood End	3 1/2 years 19 years	Dwelling House of Chas. Jas. Norton	83/1250	Chas. Jas. Norton father	8 June 1873	Revd. Lewis Hudson Wesleyan
406	8 June 1873	James John Sinclair Jane Black	James John Sinclair Jane Blick 💍 1883/1363	Bachelor Widow	Law Clerk not any	31 years 34 years	Rangiora Rangiora	12 days one month	Church of England Rangiora	83/1245		8 June 1873	Revd. B. W. Dudley Ch. of England
407	11 June 1873	Edward Janet Jenkins Sarah Ann Stokes	Edward Jarret Jenkins Sarah Ann Stokes 💍 1883/1495	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner not any	25 years 26 years	Waikuku Waikuku	3 days 20 years	Church of England Wood End	83/1387		11 June 1873	Revd. B. W. Dudley Ch. of England
408	12 June 1873	David Leighton Martin Christina Hurst Duncan	David Crighton Martin Christina Nicol Duncan 💍 1883/1381	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	27 years 20 years	Loburn Rangiora Loburn	4 years 8 years	Dwelling House of John Duncan	83/1239	Peter Duncan father	12 June 1873	Revd. Robt. Yout Presbyterian Ch.

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).