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 700

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar M Parkerson

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

1 March 1883

George Frederick Day
Constance Mary Percival

George Frederick Day
Constance Mary Percival
💍 1883/470

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
2 years

In St. Lukes Church

83/1520

1 March 1883

Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	1 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Day	Constance Mary Percival
	💍 1883/470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Lukes Church
Folio	83/1520
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England

1 March 1883

William Henry Greenfield
Ada Harriet Browns

William Henry Greenfield
Ada Harriet Brown
💍 1883/702

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer

22
21

Christchurch
Phillipstown

10 years
10 years

In the Church

83/434

1 March 1883

Rev. J. E. Gilbert, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	1 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Greenfield	Ada Harriet Browns
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Greenfield	Ada Harriet Brown
	💍 1883/702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Phillipstown
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	83/434
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Gilbert, Church of England

2 March 1883

Samuel Henry Martyn
Mary Ann Pearson

Samuel Henry Martyn
Mary Ann Pearson
💍 1883/457

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

35
33

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
5 years

In the Registrars Office

83/463

2 March 1883

Registrar of Marriages

No	73
Date of Notice	2 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Martyn	Mary Ann Pearson
	💍 1883/457
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/463
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

3 March 1883

John Henry Fisher
Alice Jane Harrison

John Henry Fisher
Alice Jane Harrison
💍 1883/463

Bachelor
Spinster

Gilder

24
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
16 years

In St. Johns Church

83/505

3 March 1883

Rev. R. E. Watson, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	3 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Fisher	Alice Jane Harrison
	💍 1883/463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gilder
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In St. Johns Church
Folio	83/505
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Watson, Church of England

3 March 1883

Frederick James Caterer
Mary Winny

Frederick James Caterer
Amy Maria Wining
💍 1883/922

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Saleswoman

27
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
20 years

In the Avonside Church

83/1492

3 March 1883

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	75
Date of Notice	3 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Caterer	Mary Winny
BDM Match (75%)	Frederick James Caterer	Amy Maria Wining
	💍 1883/922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Saleswoman
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Avonside Church
Folio	83/1492
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

5 March 1883

Thomas Giles
Ellen Robinson

Thomas Sutherland
Ellen Johnson
💍 1883/1366

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Resourced

36
22

St. Albans
Woolston

2 years
7 years

In the Harewood Church

83/1512

5 March 1883

Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	76
Date of Notice	5 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Giles	Ellen Robinson
BDM Match (63%)	Thomas Sutherland	Ellen Johnson
	💍 1883/1366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Resourced
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Woolston
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Harewood Church
Folio	83/1512
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist

5 March 1883

Joel Faulks
Eliza Gertrude Louisa Bowden

Joel Faulks
Eliza Gertrude Louisa Bowden
💍 1883/471

Spinster
Spinster

Labourer

42
26

St. Albans
St. Lukes

5 months
5 months

St. Lukes Church

83/1521

5 March 1883

Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

No	77
Date of Notice	5 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joel Faulks	Eliza Gertrude Louisa Bowden
	💍 1883/471
Condition	Spinster	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	42	26
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	St. Lukes
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church
Folio	83/1521
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Lingard, Church of England

6 March 1883

Malcolm Macfarlane
Anna Mary Chisnall

Malcolm Macfarlane
Anna Mary Chesnall
💍 1883/682

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
30

Christchurch
Papanui

3 days
3 days

In the Church

83/438

6 March 1883

Rev. P. C. Anderson, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	6 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Macfarlane	Anna Mary Chisnall
BDM Match (97%)	Malcolm Macfarlane	Anna Mary Chesnall
	💍 1883/682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Papanui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	83/438
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Anderson, Church of England

6 March 1883

Robert Greenfields
Anna Kaye

Robert Greenshields
Ann Kaye
💍 1883/458

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

In the Registrars Office

83/464

6 March 1883

Registrar of Marriages

No	79
Date of Notice	6 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Greenfields	Anna Kaye
BDM Match (89%)	Robert Greenshields	Ann Kaye
	💍 1883/458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office
Folio	83/464
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).