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 739

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
379	05 October 1883	George Lewis Wedness Mary Boucher	George Lewis Mary Boucher 💍 1883/2968	Widower Widow	Blacksmith Housekeeper	45 40	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/3040		05 October 1883	M. Markerson (Registrar)
380	06 October 1883	John Mackenzie Jessie McBeath	John McKenzie Jessie McBeath 💍 1883/3126	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	31 31	Tai Tapu Christchurch	6 years 14 days	In the house of Revd. S. Houlke	83/3106		06 October 1883	Revd. S. Houlke (Presbyterian)
381	06 October 1883	Charles Yates Hall Elizabeth Mercer	Charles Yates Wall Elizabeth Mercer 💍 1883/3113	Widower Widow	Grazier	40 45	Christchurch Linwood	3 months 1 month	In the house of Revd. S. Houlke	83/3114		06 October 1883	Revd. S. Houlke (Presbyterian)
382	09 October 1883	Frederick Lucas Alice Mary Williams	Frederick Lucas Alice Mary Williams 💍 1883/3117	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic Teacher	25 21	St. Albans St. Albans	3 years 4 years	In the House of William Williams	83/3120		09 October 1883	Rev. J. Aldred (Wesleyan)
383	09 October 1883	John Withell Sarah Box Perryman	John Wittrell Sarah Box Perryman 💍 1883/2959	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Christchurch Tai Tapu	3 days 6 years	Hinds Wesleyan Church	83/3052		09 October 1883	Rev W. Pannell (Wesleyan)
384	09 October 1883	Octavius Digby Margaret Mary Murray	Octavius Digby Margaret Mary Murray 💍 1883/2969	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/3041		09 October 1883	M. Markerson (Registrar)
385	09 October 1883	Alfred William Harris Maria Jane Prebble	Alfred William Harris Maria Jane Prebble 💍 1883/3233	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 19	Christchurch Prebbleton	8 years 19 years	In the Church of England, Prebbleton	83/3133	Prebble, Father	09 October 1883	Rev C. E. Wright
386	10 October 1883	William Blyth Sarah Nelson	William Blyth Sarah Nelson 💍 1883/2970	Widower Widow	Bricklayer Housekeeper	50 51	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 20 years	In the Registrars Office	83/3072		10 October 1883	M. Markerson (Registrar)
387	11 October 1883	Nicholas Graham Matthews Julia Silvester	Nicholas Trahan Matthews Julia Silvester 💍 1883/2960	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	31 20	Springston Weedon	5 years 3 days	In the House of George Silvester, Weedon	83/3063	George Silvester, Father	11 October 1883	Rev. W. Pannell (Wesleyan)

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).