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 702

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

13 March 1883

Albert Clark
Annie Jeffries

Albert Clark
Annie Jeffries
💍 1883/450

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

22
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

22 years
9 years

In the Registrar's Office

83/477

13 March 1883

M. Parkerson, Registrar

No	89
Date of Notice	13 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Clark	Annie Jeffries
	💍 1883/450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	22 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	83/477
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1883
Officiating Minister	M. Parkerson, Registrar

13 March 1883

Robert William Chainey
Mary Henry

Robert William Chainey
Mary Henry
💍 1883/919

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Servant

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

23 years
6 years

In the Wesleyan Church Endell

83/489

13 March 1883

Rev. H. R. Pascoe, Wesleyan

No	90
Date of Notice	13 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Chainey	Mary Henry
	💍 1883/919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Servant
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	23 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church Endell
Folio	83/489
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Pascoe, Wesleyan

13 March 1883

Edward Richardson
Charlotte Elizabeth Mercer

Edward Richardson
Charlotte Elizabeth Mercer Lockhart
💍 1883/923

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Servant

25
29

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
23 years

In the Church

83/493

13 March 1883

Rev. H. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	91
Date of Notice	13 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richardson	Charlotte Elizabeth Mercer
BDM Match (87%)	Edward Richardson	Charlotte Elizabeth Mercer Lockhart
	💍 1883/923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Servant
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	83/493
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Pascoe, Church of England

14 March 1883

Robert John Reford
Mary Case Askew

Robert John Elford
Mary Ann Askew
💍 1883/3318

Bachelor
Spinster

Malster
Servant

19
17

Heathcote
Heathcote Valley

6 years
4 years

In the Church

83/3532

John Reford & Thomas Case Askew, Fathers

14 March 1883

Rev. C. J. Merton, Church of England

No	92
Date of Notice	14 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Reford	Mary Case Askew
BDM Match (81%)	Robert John Elford	Mary Ann Askew
	💍 1883/3318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Malster	Servant
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Heathcote	Heathcote Valley
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	83/3532
Consent	John Reford & Thomas Case Askew, Fathers
Date of Certificate	14 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Merton, Church of England

14 March 1883

James Grieve Donaldson
Amelia Fulton

James Grieve Donaldson
Amelia Fulton
💍 1883/935

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Treasurer
Machinist

30
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
7 years

In the House of Rev. I. Plimsoll

83/504

14 March 1883

Rev. I. Plimsoll, Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	14 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Grieve Donaldson	Amelia Fulton
	💍 1883/935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Treasurer	Machinist
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Rev. I. Plimsoll
Folio	83/504
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Plimsoll, Presbyterian

15 March 1883

Joseph Sparks
Sarah Streeter

Joseph Sparks
Sarah Streeter
💍 1883/445

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

24
34

Halswell
Halswell

15 years
15 years

In the Registrar's Office

83/440

15 March 1883

Registrar Marriages

No	94
Date of Notice	15 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Sparks	Sarah Streeter
	💍 1883/445
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	34
Dwelling Place	Halswell	Halswell
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	83/440
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Registrar Marriages

15 March 1883

Charles Virtue Jackson
Maria Warr

Charles Pedro Jackson
Terina Turri
💍 1883/2002

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

21
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
6 years

In the Registrar's Office

83/495

Father

15 March 1883

M. Parkerson, Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	15 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Virtue Jackson	Maria Warr
BDM Match (61%)	Charles Pedro Jackson	Terina Turri
	💍 1883/2002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office
Folio	83/495
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1883
Officiating Minister	M. Parkerson, Registrar

16 March 1883

George Stringer
Catherine Stewart

George Stringer
Catharine Stewart
💍 1883/918

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
12 years

In the Church

83/480

16 March 1883

Rev. J. Flavell, Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	16 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stringer	Catherine Stewart
BDM Match (97%)	George Stringer	Catharine Stewart
	💍 1883/918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Church
Folio	83/480
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Flavell, Church of England

19 March 1883

William Grace
Elizabeth Gilpin

William Grace
Elizabeth Gilpin
💍 1883/444

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Housekeeper

52
48

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
9 days

In his Registrar's Office

83/468

19 March 1883

M. Parkerson, Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	19 March 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Grace	Elizabeth Gilpin
	💍 1883/444
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	52	48
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	9 days
Marriage Place	In his Registrar's Office
Folio	83/468
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1883
Officiating Minister	M. Parkerson, Registrar

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).