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 747

District of Cole's Church 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
451	29 November 1883	Leonard Backhouse Helen Forsyth	Leonard Samuel Scott Helen Forsyth 💍 1883/326	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	25 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars office	83/3092		29 November 1883	M. Makeeson
452	29 November 1883	Adolphus Moore Harriet Ball	Adolphus Moore Harriett Ball 💍 1883/3064	Widower Spinster	Flower Merchant Teacher	36 26	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 8 years	In the Paparui Church	83/3194		29 November 1883	Rev W. Ballachey
453	29 November 1883	Frederick Surrey Frances Jane Davis	Frederick Turvey Frances Jane Davis 💍 1883/3250	Widower Spinster	Builder Housekeeper	46 22	Ashbourne Ashbourne	10 years 6 months	In the house of R. Surrey	83/3124		29 November 1883	R. C. Ballachey
454	29 November 1883	Alfred William Walker Allen Hyndman	Alfred William Walker Ellen Hyndman 💍 1883/3059	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Housekeeper	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 4 years	In the House of Rev. J. R. Cairns	83/3192		29 November 1883	Rev J. R. Cairns
455	30 November 1883	Joseph Frederick Lloyd Kate Emma Moody	Joseph Frederick Lloyd Kate Emma Moody 💍 1883/3119	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	19 17	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 14 years	In the House of Wm. H. Woods Victoria Street	83/3122	There being no authorised person to marry William Henry Moody Father of Kate Emma Moody	14 December 1883	Rev J. Crewes
456	4 December 1883	Hugh Johnston Elizabeth Allen	Hugh Johnston Elizabeth Allun 💍 1883/3108	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	In St. Pauls Church Papanui	83/3112		4 December 1883	Rev J. Hendie
457	5 December 1883	John Monahan Annie McSweeney	John Monahan Annie McSavene 💍 1883/328	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	39 26	Sydenham Christchurch	6 years 1 week	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/3164		5 December 1883	M. Makeeson
458	5 December 1883	Edward Saunders Mary King	Edward Saunders Mary King 💍 1883/3135	Widower Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	39 39	Sydenham Sydenham	5 years 5 years	In the Registrars Office Akaroa	83/3094		5 December 1883	Rev L. Guirty
459	7 December 1883	William Common Mary Josephine Caroline Peterson	William Connors Mary Josephine Caroline Peterson 💍 1883/329	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 month	In the Registrars office	83/3095		7 December 1883	M. Makeeson

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).