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 799

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar J. Ward

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
321	12 November 1883	William Watherington Eliza Hepburn	William Hetherington Eliza Hepburn 💍 1883/3466	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	27 20	Ashburton Ashburton	5 days 5 years	Private dwellinghouse of John Hepburn, Ashburton	83/3224	John Hepburn, Father	12 November 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
322	13 November 1883	James Charles Duncan Marian Thomson Petrie	James Charles Duncan Marion Thomson Petrie 💍 1883/3021	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	35 26	Ashburton Hokitika	4 1/2 years 10 years	Private dwellinghouse of James Petrie, Hokitika	83/3024		13 November 1883	Revd. William Douglas, Presbyterian
323	17 November 1883	Joseph Shell Olive Horsefall	Joseph Ibell Olive Horsfall 💍 1883/3173	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	23 22	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 7 years	Registrar's Office	83/3233		17 November 1883	J. Ward, Registrar
324	7 December 1883	John Williams Mary Ann Eliza Shears	John Williams Mary Ann Eliza Shears 💍 1883/3174	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	48 34	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 5 years	Registrar's Office	83/3234		7 December 1883	J. Ward, Registrar
325	12 December 1883	Thomas Crawford Jessie Jutty	Thomas Crawford Jessie Tutty 💍 1883/3175	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	26 17	Ashburton Ashburton	7 years 10 years	Registrar's Office	83/3235	George Jutty, Father	12 December 1883	J. Ward, Registrar
326	13 December 1883	John Olsen Janet Lynn	John Olsen Janet Lynn Hamilton 💍 1883/3460	Widower Spinster	Labourer	38 29	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 6 years	Wesleyan Church	83/3222		13 December 1883	Revd. C. N. Standage, Wesleyan
327	24 December 1883	George King Clara Ellis	George King Clara Ellis 💍 1883/3176	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	23 23	Methven Methven	5 years 9 days	Registrar's Office	83/3236		24 December 1883	Charles Ward, Deputy Registrar
328	27 December 1883	Robert Taylor Maxwell Sarah May Worner	Robert Taylor Maxwell Sarah Way Worner 💍 1883/3467	Widower Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Wakanui Ashburton	9 years 5 years	Presbyterian Manse	83/3228		27 December 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
329	29 December 1883	Thomas Richard Jackson Elizabeth Jane Pauling	Thomas Richard Jackson Hughes Elizabeth Jane Pauling 💍 1884/812	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 18	Ashburton Ashburton	7 years 3 years	Private Dwellinghouse of William Pauling, Ashburton	84/596	William Pauling, Father	29 December 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, 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).