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 703

District of ChristChurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
98	19 March 1883	James Strange Minnie Duffie	James Strain Winnie Duffie 💍 1883/447	Bachelor Spinster	Servant Servant	22 29	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	In the Registrar Office	83/1412		19 March 1883	M. Markerson, Registrar
99	19 March 1883	William Squire Martha Jourins	William Squires Martha Tonkins 💍 1883/446	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1441		19 March 1883	M. Markerson, Registrar
100	19 March 1883	William Pester Alice Elizabeth Byron	William Pester Alice Elizabeth Byron 💍 1883/1239	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 2 months	In H. Jarrois, Sydenham, Church	83/1362	Ralph Byron, Father	19 March 1883	Revd. T. S. Coeles, Church of England
101	19 March 1883	George Trott Mary Ann Ferrick	George Trott Mary Ann Ferrick 💍 1883/3545	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 21	Springston Springston	22 years 3 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1469		19 March 1883	M. Markerson, Registrar Marriage
102	20 March 1883	Charles Fraser Margaret Anne Blyth	Charles Fraser Margaret Anne Blyth 💍 1883/679	Widower Spinster	Minister Teacher	55 20	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 20 years	In the Manse of St. Andrews, Ch: Ch:	83/1424	William Blyth, Father	20 March 1883	Rev. J. R. Cairns, Presbyterian
103	20 March 1883	William Spencer Louisa Heywood	William Spencer Hampson Emma Louisa Heywood 💍 1883/699	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 20 years	In the House, Auckland of Mr. Heywood	83/1431		20 March 1883	Revd. L. Best, Wesleyan
104	20 March 1883	George Mills Alice Maria Dean	George Mills Alice Maria Smart 💍 1883/487	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 46 years	In the House of Mr. Teuteool	83/1573		20 March 1883	Revd. C. Dallaston, Baptist
105	21 March 1883	William Patternos Annie Cambden	William Pattman Annie Cambden 💍 1883/3546	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	42 36	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 7 years	In the Registrars Office	83/1443		21 March 1883	M. Markerson, Registrar Marriage
106	22 March 1883	Thomas Henry Fox Isabella McLarew	Thomas Henry Fox Isabella McLaren 💍 1883/448	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	30 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 14 days	In the Registrar Office	83/1444		22 March 1883	M. Markerson, Registrar Marriage

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).