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 709

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
148	20 April 1883	John Patrick O'Callaghan Annie Gordon	John Patrick O'Callaghan Annie Gordon 💍 1883/1218	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 19	Papanni Papanni	9 years 10 years	St Pauls Church	83/1149	Gordon, Mother	20 April 1883	Rev P. C. Anderson
149	20 April 1883	Charles David Scott Maria Ann Cullough	Charles David Scott Sarah Maria McCullough 💍 1883/1238	Widower Spinster	Saddler Dressmaker	44 20	Christchurch Spreydon	3 days 3 days	In the House of David Scott	83/1361	Mary Cullough, Mother	20 April 1883	Rev Z. H. Wyatt
150	23 April 1883	John Gallagher Catherine McGrandle	John Gallagher Catherine McGrandle 💍 1883/3246	Widower Widow	Labourer Servant	38 30	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1145	McGrandle	23 April 1883	Rev L. Guiaty
151	23 April 1883	Robert Woodham Janet Hawkins	Robert Woodham Jane Hawkins 💍 1883/3392	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 22	Christchurch Riccarton	5 years 2 years	Church	83/3627	Hawkins	23 April 1883	Rev C. Bowen
152	23 April 1883	John James Robert Tattersall Lydia Hoskins	John James Robert Washington Lydia Hoskins 💍 1883/1153	Bachelor Servant	Hairdresser	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Registrars Office	83/1283	Hoskins	23 April 1883	Registrar Marriages M. Markerson
153	24 April 1883	Richard Verrau Sarah Jane Thomas	Richard Corran Sarah Jane Thomas 💍 1883/2188	Bachelor Spinster	Porter Machinist	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 6 years	In the Durham Street Chapel	83/1215	Thomas	24 April 1883	Rev Z. Best
154	24 April 1883	John Rodgers Ann Dempsey	John Rodgers Mary Anne Dempsey 💍 1883/3247	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 5 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	83/1146	James Dempsey, Father	24 April 1883	Rev L. Guiaty
155	24 April 1883	Isaac Hammond Fanny Hibblewhite	Isaac Hammond Fanny Kibblewhite 💍 1883/1168	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	31 26	Christchurch Merivale	4 years 2 years	Church	83/1324	Hibblewhite	24 April 1883	Rev J. Flavell
156	24 April 1883	Donald McLennan Ann Wall	Donald McLennan Ann Wall 💍 1883/1376	Widower Spinster	Lithographer	35 35	Christchurch Lincoln	1 year 1 year	In the Baptist Chapel	83/1257	Wall	24 April 1883	Rev W. C. Spencer

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 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).