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 710

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1883

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
157	24 April 1883	John Higgins Amelia Barker	John Higgins Amelia Barker 💍 1883/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Saleswoman	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 22 years	In the House of Amelia Barker Gordon Road Linwood	83/1311		24 April 1883	Rev W. Ensley Wesleyan
158	25 April 1883	Arthur Lyon Sylvia Frances Westerna	Arthur Lyon Sylvia Frances Westerna 💍 1883/1486	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	30 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 years	In St Johns Church	83/1312	Richard Westerna Father	25 April 1883	Rev H C M Watson Church of England
159	25 April 1883	William Moreau Julia Guilfoyle	William Morcan Julia Guilfoyle 💍 1883/3248	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 6 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1314		25 April 1883	Rev L. Gueratty Roman Catholic
160	26 April 1883	William Francis Matter Agnes Gray	William Francis Mather Mary Agnes Gray 💍 1883/3249	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Milliner	22 25	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 20 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1318		26 April 1883	Rev L. Gueratty Roman Catholic
161	26 April 1883	John Frederick Wachsmann Annie Greenstreet	John Frederick Wachsmann Frances Annie Greenstreet 💍 1883/1216	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 1 year	In St Lukes Church	83/1344		26 April 1883	Rev R. A. Lingard Church of England
162	28 April 1883	Bernard Krull Bertha Thick	Bernard Krull Minnie Bertha Shiek 💍 1883/1491	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 14 years	In the House of Mrs Thick	83/1347		28 April 1883	Rev J. Elmslie Presbyterian
163	30 April 1883	Thomas Searell Emily Jane Wood	Thomas Searall Emily Jane Wood 💍 1883/1487	Bachelor Spinster	Architect	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	17 years 7 years	In St Johns Church	83/1343		30 April 1883	Rev R. C. M. Watson Church of England
164	30 April 1883	John James More Elisabeth Heard	John James Moore Mary Elizabeth Heard 💍 1883/1505	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	24 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 17 years	In the Addington	83/1367	George Heard Father	30 April 1883	Rev H East Church of England
165	30 April 1883	Henry Fuller Jane Thomas	Henry Fuller Martha Jane Thomas 💍 1883/1215 James Alfred Vowles Jane Thomas 💍 1883/177	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 22 years	In St Lukes Church	83/1346		30 April 1883	Rev R. A. Lingard Church of England

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).