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 704

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1883 Registrar M. Parkerson

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
107	22 March 1883	James Watson Bessie Meacham	James Watson Turner Bessie Manhire 💍 1883/937	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 6 years	In the Church of England	83/483		22 March 1883	Rev. G. I. Cholmondeley
108	22 March 1883	Robert William Wakefield Annie Remnant		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	19 21	Sydenham Sydenham	3 years 3 years	In St. Saviour's Church	83/363	William H. Wakefield, father	22 March 1883	Rev. T. B. Cocks
109	24 March 1883	Benjamin Headbolt Elizabeth Brown	Benjamin Shadbolt Elizabeth Brown 💍 1883/3547	Bachelor Spinster	Housebreaker Servant	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 5 days	In the Registrars Office	83/446		24 March 1883	M. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
110	24 March 1883	James Henry Cotton Catharina Hudson	James Henry Cotton Catherine Hudson 💍 1883/680	Widower Widow	Carpenter Housekeeper	45 40	Linwood Linwood	1 month 4 months	In the House of Mr. Cotton	83/436		24 March 1883	Rev. J. Ward, Primitive Methodist
111	24 March 1883	John Stephens Mary Alexander	John Stephens Margaret Mary Alexander 💍 1883/700	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 20	Christchurch Sydenham	3 days 8 years	In the Ashburton Wesleyan Church	83/432	Alexander, father	24 March 1883	Rev. Z. Best, Wesleyan
112	27 March 1883	William Kinross White Frances Sophia Moore	William Kinross White Frances Sophia Moore 💍 1883/475	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 25 years	In St. Lukes, Hawkes Church	83/524		27 March 1883	Rev. R. A. Augarde, Church of England
113	27 March 1883	George Mc. Gow Isabella Lamb	George McGowan Isabella Lamb 💍 1883/3241 Charles Sanford Isabella Lamb 💍 1883/2510	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Servant	33 36	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/341		27 March 1883	Rev. L. Grutly, Roman Catholic
114	27 March 1883	Charles Boyd Mary Bousfield Hill	Charles Boyd Mary Bonsfield Hill 💍 1883/477	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	28 23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 4 years	In St. Lukes, Burnham Church	83/526		27 March 1883	Rev. R. A. Augarde, Church of England
115	28 March 1883	Jacques Modest Schmoller Therese Kauamuller	Jacques Modest Schnoler Therese Kanamueller 💍 1883/3548	Widower Spinster	Gardener Servant	42 32	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 5 days	In the Registrars Office	83/449		27 March 1883	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 1899. 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).