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 698

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar M Patterson

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

29 January 1883

John Jarrett
Sarah Bowmaker

John Jarrett Jenkins
Sarah Bowmaker
💍 1883/694

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Servant

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
6 years

In the Registrars Office

83/449

29 January 1883

M Patterson

No	35
Date of Notice	29 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jarrett	Sarah Bowmaker
BDM Match (80%)	John Jarrett Jenkins	Sarah Bowmaker
	💍 1883/694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1883
Officiating Minister	M Patterson

29 January 1883

Robert Anderson
Arella Connon

Robert Anderson
Azella Connor
💍 1883/697

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
19

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
8 years

In St Matthews Church

83/429

Mother

29 January 1883

Rev R Mortimer, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	29 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Anderson	Arella Connon
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Anderson	Azella Connor
	💍 1883/697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In St Matthews Church
Folio	83/429
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	29 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev R Mortimer, Church of England

30 January 1883

Cleaber Joseph Tassant
Lizzie Eva Fisher

Cleaber Joseph Farrant
Lizzie Eva Fisher
💍 1883/939

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Dressmaker

23
23

Sydenham
Sydenham

8 years
8 years

In St Marys Church

83/483

30 January 1883

Rev H East, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	30 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cleaber Joseph Tassant	Lizzie Eva Fisher
BDM Match (93%)	Cleaber Joseph Farrant	Lizzie Eva Fisher
	💍 1883/939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Dressmaker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In St Marys Church
Folio	83/483
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev H East, Church of England

30 January 1883

Morgan O'Brien
Catherine Colgan

Morgan OBrien
Kate Colgan
💍 1883/3253

Bachelor
Spinster

Harnesser
Servant

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 days
4 years

In the Roman Catholic Church, Southland

83/129

30 January 1883

Rev L Guinity, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	30 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morgan O'Brien	Catherine Colgan
BDM Match (78%)	Morgan OBrien	Kate Colgan
	💍 1883/3253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harnesser	Servant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Southland
Folio	83/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev L Guinity, Roman Catholic

30 January 1883

Prosper Guilliam Raine
Alice Louisa Fisher

Prosper Guillamme Raine Berland
Alice Louisa Fisher
💍 1883/468

Bachelor
Spinster

Tram Guard
Machinist

29
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 months
18 years

In St Dallias Church

83/578

31 January 1883

Rev R C Huggard, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	30 January 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Prosper Guilliam Raine	Alice Louisa Fisher
BDM Match (82%)	Prosper Guillamme Raine Berland	Alice Louisa Fisher
	💍 1883/468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tram Guard	Machinist
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 months	18 years
Marriage Place	In St Dallias Church
Folio	83/578
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev R C Huggard, Church of England

3 February 1883

Malcolm McKinley
Sarah Hamilton

Malcolm McKinley
Sarah Hamilton
💍 1883/931

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

22
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
4 years

In the House of Rev I. Pleuslie

83/500

3 February 1883

Rev I Pleuslie, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	3 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McKinley	Sarah Hamilton
	💍 1883/931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev I. Pleuslie
Folio	83/500
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev I Pleuslie, Presbyterian

5 February 1883

Joseph Suckling
Lydia Hornsell

Joseph Suckling
Lydia Hounsell
💍 1883/696

Bachelor
Spinster

Leather Merchant

57
53

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
2 months

In the Registrars Office

83/457

5 February 1883

M Patterson

No	41
Date of Notice	5 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Suckling	Lydia Hornsell
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Suckling	Lydia Hounsell
	💍 1883/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Leather Merchant
Age	57	53
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/457
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1883
Officiating Minister	M Patterson

6 February 1883

George McLean
Elizabeth Delhay Whelek

George McClean
Elizabeth Delhay Whelch
💍 1883/926

George Murphy
Elizabeth Ellen Pooley
💍 1884/1965

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Servant

32
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
5 years

In St Michaels Church, Waibard

83/496

6 February 1883

Rev W Harper, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	6 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McLean	Elizabeth Delhay Whelek
BDM Match (89%)	George McClean	Elizabeth Delhay Whelch
	💍 1883/926
BDM Match (61%)	George Murphy	Elizabeth Ellen Pooley
	💍 1884/1965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Servant
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In St Michaels Church, Waibard
Folio	83/496
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev W Harper, Church of England

8 February 1883

Matthew John Jewell
Mary Caroline Patterson

Matthew John Jewell
Mary Carolan
💍 1883/3240

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Servant

27
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 years
4 years

In the Roman Catholic Church

83/140

8 February 1883

Rev L Guinity, Roman Catholic

No	43
Date of Notice	8 February 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew John Jewell	Mary Caroline Patterson
BDM Match (76%)	Matthew John Jewell	Mary Carolan
	💍 1883/3240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Servant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	83/140
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev L Guinity, Roman Catholic

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).