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 714

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar M. Markerson

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
193	21 May 1883	William Ash Martha Beatty	William Ash Martha Beatty 💍 1883/1230	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 2 years	In the House	83/1194		21 May 1883	Rev. J. R. Cairns Presbyterian
194	21 May 1883	Charles Rolleston Storey Annie Cleverton	Charles Rolleston Storey Annie Chiverton 💍 1883/1221	Bachelor Spinster	Colliery Manager	35 31	Christchurch Christchurch	4 weeks 3 years	In F. Dulles, Brockley Church	83/1352		21 May 1883	Rev. R. A. Lingard Church of England
195	21 May 1883	Jesse Francis Baxter Margaret Bothwell Leckie	Jesse Francis Baxter Margaret Bothwell Leckie 💍 1883/1210	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	35 21	Christchurch Kaikoura	10 days	In the Registrars office	83/1292		21 May 1883	M. Markerson Registrar Marriages
196	21 May 1883	Charles Guilleum Scott Mary Elizabeth Jameson	Charles Guillum Scott Mary Elizabeth Jamison 💍 1883/2607	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 18	Templeton Templeton	7 months 6 months	In the Church	83/1538	Mother	21 June 1883	Rev. R. A. Wright Church of England
197	21 May 1883	Mark Wright Charlotte Meahuke	Mark Wright Charlotte Mahuke 💍 1883/1231	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Christchurch Lincoln	4 days 11 days	In the House of Mr. Meahuke, Akaroa	83/1338		21 May 1883	Rev. J. R. Cairns Presbyterian
198	21 May 1883	Denis Murphy Elizabeth Barry	Denis Murphy Elizabeth Barry 💍 1883/3139	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 9 months	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1350		21 May 1883	Rev. J. Quirkly Roman Catholic
199	22 May 1883	John Butterfield Malta Delarowe	John Butterfield Malta Delarowe 💍 1883/1499	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 4 years	In the House of Mr. Hall, South Belt Ch. Ch.	83/1384		22 May 1883	Rev. J. Causley Wesleyan
200	22 May 1883	Fred William Wallace Moore Isabella Harding	Fred William Wallace Moore Marian Isabella Harding 💍 1883/1184	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	26 27	Christchurch Oparawa	5 days	In the House, Herronville	83/1316		22 May 1883	Rev. G. Cholmondeley Church of England
201	23 May 1883	Adam Werner Emily Tucker	Adam Werner Emily Tucker 💍 1883/1187	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	30 25	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 9 days	In the Registered office	83/1293		23 May 1883	M. Markerson Registrar 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 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).