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 715

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 1883 Registrar M. Markerson

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
202	23 May 1883	Daniel Edward Smith Kate Evelyn Hawker	Daniel Edward Smith Kate Evelyn Hawker 💍 1883/1202	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 18 years	In the New Brighton Church	83/1307	George Thomas Hawker	23 May 1883	Rev R. Mortimer, Church of England
203	25 May 1883	Henry Hudson Emily Doyle	Henry Hudson Emily Doyle 💍 1883/1188	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Servant	30 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 months	In the Registrars Office	83/1294		25 May 1883	Registrar of Marriages, M. Markerson
204	26 May 1883	Hugh Muckle Sarah Wright	Hugh Muckle Sarah Wright 💍 1883/1189	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	29 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	In the Registrars Office	83/1295		26 May 1883	Registrar of Marriages, M. Markerson
205	26 May 1883	Arthur Godfrey Jensen Kate Morgan	Arthur Godfrey Kate Morgan 💍 1883/1220	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 17	Paparua Paparua	21 years 17 years	In the Paparua Church	83/1357	Elizabeth Jensen, Mother	26 May 1883	Rev. P. C. Anderson, Church of England
206	28 May 1883	James Wedderburn Janet Leggatt	James Wedderburn Janet Leggatt 💍 1883/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Sealemaker Servant	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	In St Matthews Church	83/1281		26 May 1883	Rev R. Mortimer, Church of England
207	28 May 1883	John Hurley Fanny Ayres		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 18	Greenpark Tai Tapu	3 years 1 year	In St Marks Church	83/1382	William Ayres, Father	28 May 1883	Revd F. Teakle, Church of England
208	28 May 1883	John Arthur Voyle Alice Voyle	John Arthur Lummis Edith Alice Voyle 💍 1883/1232	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 7 years	In the House of Philip John Voyle	83/1339	Philip John Voyle, Father	28 May 1883	Rev T. R. Cairns, Presbyterian
209	28 May 1883	John Bell Maudall Annie Elizabeth Toone	John Bell Mandall Annie Elizabeth Toon 💍 1883/1506	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 1 year	In the House of Mr. Toone	83/1368	John Toone, Father	28 May 1883	Rev L. Aldred, Wesleyan
210	29 May 1883	Joseph William Wilson Tabatha Anne Jeesson	Joseph William Wilson Tabatha Ann Ineson 💍 1883/1192	Widower Spinster	Cook Servant	34 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1298		29 May 1883	Registrar of Marriages, M. Markerson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).