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 400

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1883 Registrar J. Ollasworth

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
153	21 July 1883	Alexander Harrington Louisa Houlday	Alexander Harrington Louisa Houldey 💍 1883/1903	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	24 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1954		21 July 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
154	1 August 1883	Edgar Jones Lilian Jane Wood	Eagar Jones Lilian Jane Wood 💍 1883/1904	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Spinster	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1955		1 August 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
155	3 August 1883	George Henry Payne Caroline June Davis	George Henry Payne Caroline Jane Davis 💍 1883/1905	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	24 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1956		3 August 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
156	8 August 1883	Frederick William Cudby Martha Greenwood	Frederick William Cudby Martha Greenwood 💍 1883/1871	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Spinster	24 21	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	4 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church Upper Hutt	83/1970		8 August 1883	Rev. F. Yardin
157	11 August 1883	Alfred Pierard Emily Standen	Alfred Pierand Emily Standen 💍 1883/1857	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Spinster	21 19	Wellington Karori	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs Standen Karori	83/1980	Mrs Standen Mother	11 August 1883	Rev. A. B. Easton
158	15 August 1883	Richard Crowther Mary Theresa Clifford	Richard Crowther Mary Teresea Clifford 💍 1883/1940	Widower Spinster	Labourer Spinster	29 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Marys Cathedral	83/1992		15 August 1883	Rev. John McNamara
159	16 August 1883	James Pettie Louisa Sampson	James Pettie Louisa Sampson 💍 1883/1873	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Spinster	23 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 10 months	St. Peters Church	83/1992	No relation to give consent	30 August 1883	Venble Archdeacon Stock
160	17 August 1883	Bernard Reilly Blanche Louie Bennett	Bernard Reily Blanche Louise Bennett 💍 1883/1941	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Widow	33 32	Wellington Wellington	6 days 6 days	St. Marys Cathedral	83/1993		17 August 1883	Rev. John McNamara
161	20 August 1883	Alfred Leaper Laura Anna Freeman	Alfred Leaper Laura Anna Freeman 💍 1883/1906	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Spinster	27 25	Wellington Wellington	14 days 6 weeks	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1957		20 August 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
162	25 August 1883	Thomas Daws Hassell Emily Frances Williams	Thomas Davis Hassell Emily Frances Annette Williams 💍 1883/1907	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman Spinster	36 35	Wellington Wellington	6 months 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1958		25 August 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
163	31 August 1883	Charles Reedy Jopling Alice Maria Haselden	Charles Reesby Joplin Alice Maria Haselden 💍 1883/1909	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Spinster	25 20	Petone Wellington	18 months 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	83/1959	Charles John Allen Haselden Father	31 August 1883	A. M. Smith Depy
164	3 September 1883	John Moloney Mary Ann Fitzgibbon	John Maloney Mary Ann Fitzgibbon 💍 1883/1870	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	27 22	Wellington Wellington	10 days 2 years	St. Mary of the Angels	83/1969		3 September 1883	Rev. P. Kerrigan

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).