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 783

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar H. Y. Lee

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
12	24 July 1883	George William Newlove Agnes Rosamond Clifford	George William Newlove Agnes Rosamond Clifford 💍 1883/2338	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	33 26	Doyleston Doyleston	9 years 1 day	At the Wesleyan Chapel at Irwell	83/2282		24 July 1883	Revd. W. Reall, Wesleyan, of Leeston
13	31 July 1883	Henry McCrea Margaret Campbell	Henry McElrea Margaret Campbell 💍 1883/2358	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	26 30	Southbridge Stony Gully	3 days 10 years	At the house of Mr. Peter Campbell, Stony Gully	83/2278		31 July 1883	Revd. W. West, Presbyterian, of Southbridge
14	10 August 1883	Charles Manhart Hannah Peacock	Charles Manhart Hannah Peacock 💍 1883/2337	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	38 28	Leeston Leeston	1 year 5 months	Wesleyan Chapel at Leeston	83/2287		10 August 1883	Revd. W. Reall, Wesleyan, of Leeston
15	14 August 1883	Alexander Rollo Martha Ann Johnson	Alexander Rolls Martha Ann Johnson 💍 1883/2339 Alexander Morrison Clara Jane Johnson 💍 1883/647	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Irwell Irwell	10 years 2 years	Presbyterian Manse at Leeston	83/2283	Thomas Johnson (Father)	14 August 1883	Revd. J. W. Free, Presbyterian, of Leeston
16	17 August 1883	James Anderson Francis Butter	James Anderson Frances Butler 💍 1883/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer's Assistant	28 23	Christchurch Dunsandel	15 years 5 years	At the house of Mr. John Butter at Dunsandel	83/2152		17 August 1883	Revd. Walter Dunkley, Church of England, of Burnham
17	11 September 1883	David Gilmour Jessie Robb	David Gilmour Jessie Robb 💍 1883/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	27 22	Doyleston Doyleston	4 days 4 years	In the Presbyterian Church at Leeston	83/2284		11 September 1883	Revd. J. W. Free, Presbyterian, of Leeston
18	14 September 1883	Charles Palmer Ellen McNeely	Charles Palmer Ellen McNeely 💍 1883/2359	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 24	Southbridge Southbridge	5 years 4 years	At the house of Mr. John McNeely	83/2279		14 September 1883	Revd. W. West, Presbyterian, of Southbridge

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).