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 1046

District of Balclutha Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar W. A. Comerford

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

14 April 1883

Alexander Don
Amelia Warner

Alexander Sow
Amelia Warne
💍 1883/1612

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary

26 Years
22

Warepa
Warepa

4 days
4 days

At the residence of John Don, Warepa

83/1605

14 April 1883

Rev. Wm. Bannerman, Presbyterian Minister

No	98
Date of Notice	14 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Don	Amelia Warner
BDM Match (88%)	Alexander Sow	Amelia Warne
	💍 1883/1612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary
Age	26 Years	22
Dwelling Place	Warepa	Warepa
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Don, Warepa
Folio	83/1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Bannerman, Presbyterian Minister

19 April 1883

John Howard Roberts
Susannah Mosley

John Howard Roberts
Susannah Mosley
💍 1883/1611

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24 years
24 years

Tuak Clutha
Tuak Clutha

5 days
24 years

At the office of the Registrar, Balclutha

83/1604

19 April 1883

W. A. Comerford, Registrar

No	99
Date of Notice	19 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Howard Roberts	Susannah Mosley
	💍 1883/1611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Tuak Clutha	Tuak Clutha
Length of Residence	5 days	24 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Balclutha
Folio	83/1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1883
Officiating Minister	W. A. Comerford, Registrar

100

19 April 1883

Walter Frank Knowles
Lizzie Holmes

Walter Frank Knowles
Lizzie Holmes
💍 1883/2612

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister

26 years
22 years

Balclutha
Wellington

3 years
4 years

At St Pauls Church, Thorndon, Wellington

83/2543

19 April 1883

Rev. Francis Knowles, Church of England Minister

No	100
Date of Notice	19 April 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frank Knowles	Lizzie Holmes
	💍 1883/2612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At St Pauls Church, Thorndon, Wellington
Folio	83/2543
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Knowles, Church of England Minister

101

2 June 1883

John Strachan
Mary McKinley

John Strachan
Mary McKinlay
💍 1883/1613

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill owner

33 years
23 years

Warepa
Tuak Clutha

24 years
12 years

At the residence of Robert McKinley, Tuak Clutha

83/1606

2 June 1883

Rev. John M. Allan, Presbyterian Minister

No	101
Date of Notice	2 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Strachan	Mary McKinley
BDM Match (96%)	John Strachan	Mary McKinlay
	💍 1883/1613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill owner
Age	33 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Warepa	Tuak Clutha
Length of Residence	24 years	12 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Robert McKinley, Tuak Clutha
Folio	83/1606
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. John M. Allan, Presbyterian Minister

102

13 June 1883

Stephen Parmeter
Alice Vaughan Moore

Stephen Parmenter
Alice Vaughan Moore
💍 1883/1615

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-Keeper

29 years
27 years

Balclutha
Balclutha

4 years
14 days

At the Church of "St Marks", Balclutha

83/1607

13 June 1883

Rev. J. L. Stanley, Church of England Minister

No	102
Date of Notice	13 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Parmeter	Alice Vaughan Moore
BDM Match (97%)	Stephen Parmenter	Alice Vaughan Moore
	💍 1883/1615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-Keeper
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Balclutha	Balclutha
Length of Residence	4 years	14 days
Marriage Place	At the Church of "St Marks", Balclutha
Folio	83/1607
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Stanley, Church of England Minister

103

25 June 1883

Robert Lawrence
Mary Jane Woods

Robert Lawrence
Mary Jane Woods
💍 1883/3480

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

29 years
18 years

Hillend
Balclutha

9 years
6 years

At the residence of W. D. Woods, Netherby, Balclutha

83/3443

William Orlarly Woods, Father of Mary Jane Woods (minor)

25 June 1883

Rev. George Moriel, Presbyterian Minister

No	103
Date of Notice	25 June 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Lawrence	Mary Jane Woods
	💍 1883/3480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	29 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Hillend	Balclutha
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of W. D. Woods, Netherby, Balclutha
Folio	83/3443
Consent	William Orlarly Woods, Father of Mary Jane Woods (minor)
Date of Certificate	25 June 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Moriel, Presbyterian Minister

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 1903. 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).