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 748

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar J. 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
460	8 December 1883	Frederick Charles Smith Sarah Ann Cummings	Frederick Charles Smith Sarah Ann Cumming 💍 1883/2964	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	26 21	Christchurch Paparua	8 years 7 years	In the Merivale Church	83/1067		8 December 1883	Rev T. Flavell, Church of England
461	10 December 1883	Alexander Boal Sharpe Maria Gould	Alexander Boal Sharpe Maria Gould 💍 1883/2956	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Companion	37 27	Halkett Christchurch	16 years 9 years	In the Wesleyan Church, East Belt	83/1059		10 December 1883	Rev R. Best, Wesleyan
462	10 December 1883	George William Mummery Agnes Amelia King	George William Mummery Agnes Amelia King 💍 1883/3065	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner Servant	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 20 years	In Mr. Duller's Church	83/1380		10 December 1883	Rev R. Aldridge, Church of England
463	11 December 1883	Jonas Cork Persson Louise Barker	Jonas Persson Mary Louisa Barker 💍 1883/2978	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Wesleyan Chapel	83/1058		11 December 1883	Rev J. Buller, Wesleyan
464	11 December 1883	Michael Joseph Ryan Alice Triller	Michael Joseph Ryan Alice Triller 💍 1883/330	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 5 years	Durham Street Registrars Office	83/1093	George Triller, Father	11 December 1883	J. M. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
465	11 December 1883	Joseph Heron Mary Kay	Joseph Hiron Mary Kay 💍 1883/2957	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 10 years	In the House of Mrs Kay	83/1060		11 December 1883	Rev R. Best, Wesleyan
466	11 December 1883	Charles Parker Susan Dougherty	Charles Parker Susan Dougherty 💍 1883/3138	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Driver Servant	33 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 6 years	In the House of Charles Parker	83/1064		11 December 1883	Rev J. Cannell, Wesleyan
467	12 December 1883	Thomas Gledhill Agnes Hay	Thomas Gudsell Agnes Hay 💍 1883/2962	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Weedon Weedon	21 years 12 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel	83/1065		12 December 1883	Rev W. Cannell, Wesleyan
468	12 December 1883	William Cotter Maria Phillips	William Cother Mona Phillips 💍 1883/3060	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Dressmaker	30 29	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 13 years	In the Presbyterian Church	83/1093		12 December 1883	Rev T. R. Cairns, Presbyterian

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).