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 749

District of Christchurch 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
469	13 December 1883	Daniel McMeigh Julia Hume	Daniel McVeigh Julia Dunn 💍 1884/501	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	38 25	Lincoln Greenpark	1 year 4 years	The Roman Catholic Church	83/532		13 December 1883	R. J. Cherrier Roman Catholic
470	13 December 1883	Henry Porter Louisa Clark	Henry Porter Louisa Clark 💍 1883/3078	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	26 24	Christchurch Sydenham	6 years 10 years	In the House of Revd W. Baird	83/3187		13 December 1883	Revd W. Baird Presbyterian
471	13 December 1883	John Nicholls Fowke Emma Elizabeth Wagstaff	John Nicholls Fowke Emma Elizabeth Wagstaff 💍 1883/3140	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	19 19	Sydenham Sydenham	11 years 11 years	In the House of Mr Wagstaff	83/3168	Jane Wagstaff, Mother	13 December 1883	Revd J. Cannell Wesleyan
472	15 December 1883	John Grant Elizabeth Vogel	John Grant Elizabeth Vogel 💍 1883/3073	Bachelor Spinster	Milkman	24 22	Belfast Christchurch	1 month 22 years	In the House of Royal Hotel	83/3182	Royal Hotel Keeper	15 December 1883	Revd G. Tisley Wesleyan
473	15 December 1883	Charles Turvey Dora Correll	Charles Turvey Dorcas Correll 💍 1883/3116	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer Servant	23 22	Ashbourne Ashbourne	8 years 5 years	In St Peters Manse	83/3119		15 December 1883	Revd J. Aldredge Presbyterian
474	18 December 1883	William Foweraker Harriette Frances Morgan	William Foweraku Harriette Frances Morgan 💍 1883/3254	Widower Spinster	Station Master Teacher	37 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Temperance Hotel	83/3152		18 December 1883	Revd C. Dallaston Baptist
475	18 December 1883	Robert Henderson Mary Ryhan	Robert Henderson Mary Nyhan 💍 1883/332	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Servant	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	In the Registrar Office	83/3097		18 December 1883	M. M. Kessou
476	18 December 1883	Henry Seymour Richards Bertha Jane Button	Henry Seymour Richards Bertha Jane Butten 💍 1883/3111	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	In the Congregational Church Manchester Street	83/3115		18 December 1883	Revd H. Williams Congregationalist
477	18 December 1883	Archibald More Augusta Kirkland	Archibald Moore Augusta Kerkland 💍 1883/331	Widower Spinster	Gardener Servant	47 42	St Albans St Albans	14 years 7 years	In the Registrar Office	83/3096		18 December 1883	M. M. Kessou

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).