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 800

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1883

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
312	3 October 1883	Charles Morrison Marian Rutherford	Charles Morrison Marrian Rutherford 💍 1883/3463	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk of Works	34 30	Alford Forest Alford Forest	3 years 10 years	Mr Thomas Quill's Hotel, Ashburton	83/3224		9 October 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
313	5 October 1883	John Robert Bland Harriet Mary Grant	John Robert Bland Harriett Mary Grant 💍 1883/3153	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Governess	26 23	Ashburton Ashburton	20 years 5 years	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	83/3229		6 October 1883	Revd. E. A. Lingard, Church of England
314	6 October 1883	John Walsh Mary Casey	John Walsh Mary Casey 💍 1883/3459	Widower Spinster	Gentleman Teacher	40 25	Ashburton Ashburton	16 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	83/3221		6 October 1883	Revd. E. Coffey, Roman Catholic
315	16 October 1883	Timothy Kerin Jane Gilmour	Timothy Kerin Jane Gilmour 💍 1883/3163	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 21	Longbeach Longbeach	1 year 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Otaio Temuka	83/3227
316	23 October 1883	William Morgan Isabel Johnston	William Morgan Isabel Johnstone 💍 1883/3164	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 19	Alford Forest Alford Forest	3 days 3 years	Private dwelling house of James Johnston	83/3230	James Johnston, Father	23 October 1883	Revd Alexander MsSellan, Presbyterian
317	25 October 1883	Harry Funge Jane Ann Brown	Harry Funge Jane Ann Browne 💍 1883/3464	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	31 36	Ashburton Flemington	7 years 6 years	Private dwelling house of Robert Anderson	83/3225		25 October 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
318	29 October 1883	Andrew Sturgeon Ellen Moriarty	Andrew Sturgeon Ellen Moriarty 💍 1883/3171	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	30 24	Ashburton Tinwald	11 years 6 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	83/3231		29 October 1883	J. Ward, Registrar
319	30 October 1883	Alexander Chrysostom Annie Jones	Alexander Chrysolite Malcolm Annie Jones 💍 1883/3465 William Preston Annie Jones 💍 1883/108	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	22 17	Ashburton Ashburton	18 months 2 years	Presbyterian Manse	83/3226	Dinah Jones, Mother	30 October 1883	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
320	2 November 1883	William Ward Williams Catherine Jane Thomas	William Ward Williams Catherine Jane Thomas 💍 1883/3172	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 22	Seafield Seafield	6 years 6 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	83/3232		2 November 1883	Ward, Registrar

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).