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 750

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar M. Makeson

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
478	19 December 1883	Harry Gilbert Turner Helena Louisa Samuels	Harry Gilbert Turner Eliza Louisa Samuels 💍 1883/3072	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 10 years	St. Lukes Church	83/3181		19 December 1883	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England
479	20 December 1883	Edward Mansell Coard Martha Alice Alfred		Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 19	Templeton Templeton	5 years 11 years	St. Saviours Church	83/3618	John Coard, Father	20 December 1883	Rev. A. E. Wright, Church of England
480	20 December 1883	John Wright Sarah Davis Corich	John Wright Sarah Davis Covich 💍 1883/3076	Widower Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	52 34	Addington Christchurch	19 years 5 months	In the House of Mr. Deumidde	83/3185		20 December 1883	Rev. W. Deumidde, Presbyterian
481	21 December 1883	John Gregory Johanna Hogan	John Gregory Johanna Hogan 💍 1883/333	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	83/3098		21 December 1883	Registrar Marriages, J. M. Makeson
482	21 December 1883	Adam Menzies Rosina Clark Hill	Adam Menzies Rosina Clark Hill 💍 1883/3061	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	25 26	Sydenham Sydenham	4 years 1 year	In the House of Mr. Hill	83/3194		21 December 1883	Rev. J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian
483	22 December 1883	John Albert Black Elizabeth Parker	John Albert Blank Charlotte Elizabeth Parker 💍 1884/450	Widower Spinster	Farmer Governess	32 21	Tai Tapu Christchurch	13 years 2 years	St. Johns Lukes Church	84/500		22 December 1883	Rev. R. A. Lingard, Church of England
484	24 December 1883	William Thomas Nelson Eliza Ann Halfard	William Thomas Eliza Ann Walford 💍 1883/3103	Widower Widow	Labourer Nurse	46 42	Mt. Albert Christchurch	10 years 7 years	Registrars Office	83/3099		24 December 1883	Registrar Marriages, J. M. Makeson
485	24 December 1883	John Gillett Helena Jones	John Gillett Eliza Jones 💍 1884/479	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 24	Opawa Sydenham	2 years 10 years	St. Michaels Church	84/501		24 December 1883	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
486	24 December 1883	Arthur John Parson Adelle Vittoria Vernamore		Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 10 years	In the Avonside Church	84/529		24 December 1883	Rev. A. F. Knowles, 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).