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 744

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 December 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
424	08 November 1883	James Haughey Agnes Margaret Harrington	James Haughey Margaret Agnes Harrington 💍 1883/3134	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 5 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/3163		08 November 1883	Rev d McGuity, Roman Catholic
425	08 November 1883	George Jarvis Helena Troup	George Jarvis Eliza Troup 💍 1883/320	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/3086		08 November 1883	Registrar of Marriages, M Parkerson
426	08 November 1883	David Reid Frances Helena Bartram	David Reid Frances Eliza Bartram 💍 1883/3144	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 20 years	In the Lincoln Church	83/3142		08 November 1883	Rev J F Teakle, Church of England
427	10 November 1883	Matthias Rippenberger Fanny Davies	Matthias Kippenberger Fanny Davies 💍 1883/3105	Bachelor Spinster	Travelling Agent Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 months	In the house of Rev J Elmslie	83/3109		10 November 1883	Rev J Elmslie, Presbyterian
428	12 November 1883	William Addie Mary Smith	William Addie Mary Smith 💍 1883/3106 William Clues Emily Smith 💍 1883/90	Bachelor Widow	Mason	44 44	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In St Pauls Church	83/3110		12 November 1883	Rev J Elmslie, Presbyterian
429	12 November 1883	William Squires Nathalie Lange	William Squires Nathalie Lange 💍 1883/321	Widower Spinster	Gardener	27 32	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	83/3087		12 November 1883	Registrar of Marriages, M Parkerson
430	13 November 1883	Charles Hobbs Jane Thorne	Charles Hobbs Jane Thorne 💍 1883/3054	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	In St Lukes Church	83/3179	John Thorne, Father
431	13 November 1883	Henry Sestie Mary Phipps	Henry Scott Mary Phipps 💍 1883/322	Widower Widow	Carter Housekeeper	32 33	Hokitika Christchurch	3 years 14 years	Registrars Office	83/3088		13 November 1883	Registrar of Marriage, M Parkerson
432	14 November 1883	Andrew Edward Ward Alice Jane Gillett	Andrew Edward Ward Alice Jane Tillett 💍 1883/3234	Bachelor Spinster	Corn Dealer	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 6 years	In St Johns Church	83/3134		14 November 1883	Rev W M Watson, 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 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).