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 408

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1883 Registrar J. G. Holdsworth

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
214	20 November 1883	James Adolphus Parman Bridget Mary Moore	James Adolphus Parman Bridget Mary Moore 💍 1883/2772	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	24 26	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	St. Mary of the Angels	83/12867			Rev. P. Kerrigan
215	22 November 1883	Charles Samuel Stokes Elizabeth Sophia Webster	Charles Samuel Stokes Elizabeth Sophia McMullin 💍 1883/3320	Widower Widow	Druggist	33 30	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Andrews Church	83/13531		22 November 1883	Rev. C. I. Ogg
216	23 November 1883	Aloysius John Thomas McCuray Mary Ann Jones	Alloysius John Thomas McCurdy Mary Ann Jones 💍 1883/2909	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	23 18	Wellington Wellington	years 3 Weeks	St. Johns Church	83/12875	Her parents in Colony	7 December 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
217	26 November 1883	Walter James Monkhouse Mary King	Walter James Monkhouse Mary King 💍 1883/3625	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	83/12799		26 November 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
218	27 November 1883	William Budley Emily Frances Rivers	William Cudby Emily Frances Rivers 💍 1883/2927	Bachelor Spinster	Livery Stable Keeper	29 16	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Roman Catholic Church	83/12880	Daniel Rivers Father	27 November 1883	Rev. F. Yardain
219	27 November 1883	William Arthur Margaret Dickson	William Arthur Margaret Dickson 💍 1883/2736	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Church of Christ Dixon Street	83/12780		27 November 1883	Rev. A. B. Maston
220	29 November 1883	Ole Olsen Isabella Shepherd	Ole Olsen Isabella Shepherd 💍 1883/2693	Widower Spinster	Mariner	45 37	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrars office Wellington	83/12800		29 November 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
221	29 November 1883	Thomas Fitzgerald Julia Hickey	Thomas Fitzgerald Julia Hickey 💍 1883/2777	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	83/12871		29 November 1883	Rev. John McNomara
222	5 December 1883	Matthew te Puni Alice Mary Edmonds	Matthew Te Puni Alice Mary Edmonds 💍 1883/2704	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	22 21	Petone Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/12801		5 December 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
223	6 December 1883	William John Cruckton Mary Jane Goodwin	William John Crichton Mary Jane Goodwin 💍 1883/2769	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger	34 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mr. Crichton's House Tinakori Road	83/12864		6 December 1883	Rev. R. J. Thorpe
224	6 December 1883	Benjamin Clefton Susan Lecher	Benjamin Clifton Susan Lecher 💍 1883/2714	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	25 25	Wellington Wellington	years 9 months	Registrars office Wellington	83/12805		6 December 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
225	8 December 1883	Frank Robert Waters Jane Sheatton	Frank Robert Watey Jane Stratton 💍 1883/3628	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Mr. Mitchells House Manners Street	83/12876		8 December 1883	Rev. James Paterson

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 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).