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 733

District of Christ Church Quarter ending 30 September 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
340	5 September 1883	David Ashley Elizabeth Jessup	David Ashley Elizabeth Jessup 💍 1883/3586	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	St Albans Christ Church	2 years 5 years	In St. Pauls Church	83/1236	Robert Jessup, Father	5 September 1883	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
341	6 September 1883	Edward Marshall Fanny Maria Davis	Edward Marshall Fanny Maria Davis 💍 1883/2187	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Servant	23 22	Christ Church Opawa	2 years 3 years	In the Opawa Church	83/1214		6 September 1883	Rev. G. Cholmondeley, Church of England
342	6 September 1883	David Watson Isabella Wanless Ferguson	David Watson Isabella Wanless Furguson 💍 1883/2076	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	32 33	Addington Addington	18 months 8 months	In the House of Rev. R. Taylor	83/12193		6 September 1883	Rev. R. Taylor, Methodist Minister
343	7 September 1883	Daniel James Murray Sarah Elizabeth Holder	Daniel James Murray Sarah Elizabeth Holder 💍 1883/2186	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan Minister	31 29	Christ Church Christ Church	2 weeks 1 year	In the House of Charles Holder, Burnside	83/12165	Charles Holder	7 September 1883	Rev. W. Ensley, Wesleyan
344	8 September 1883	John Joseph Reidy Catherine McRegney	John Joseph Reidy Catherine McKegney 💍 1883/3132	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 23	Christ Church Christ Church	5 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/13161		8 September 1883	Rev. L. McGuinaty, Roman Catholic
345	10 September 1883	William Perceval Hannah Wyatt	William Percival Hannah Wyatt 💍 1883/2072	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Laundress	41 31	Christ Church Christ Church	14 days 6 weeks	In the Registrars Office	83/2213		10 September 1883	M. Jefferson, Registrar
346	10 September 1883	Patrick McCann Susan Kate McNamara	Patrick McCann Susan Kate McNamara 💍 1883/3129	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 29	Christ Church Christ Church	3 days 8 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill	83/3158		10 September 1883	Rev. L. McGuinaty, Roman Catholic
347	10 September 1883	Francis Muller Margaret McCrossin	Francis Mullin Margaret McCrossin 💍 1883/3152	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christ Church Christ Church	6 years 5 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/13157		10 September 1883	Rev. L. McGuinaty, Roman Catholic
348	10 September 1883	William Richard Seal Mary Stoddart	William Richard Seal Mary Stoddart 💍 1883/2173	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	27 18	Sydenham Sydenham	5 years 4 months	In the House of Wm. R. Seal	83/2235	No person giving authority by consent	25 September 1883	Rev. G. Johnson, Baptist

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).