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 396

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
104	11 May 1883	Andrew Brown Sarah Hargreaves	Andrew Brown Sarah Hargreaves 💍 1883/1003	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21	Upper Hutt Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	83/1060		11 May 1883	Rev. Rainsford Bavin
105	14 May 1883	George MacMorran Margaret Glen	George McMorran Margaret Glen 💍 1883/1331	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 32	Wellington Wellington	14 months 10 days	Residence of Mr. Wilson, Wedcombe Street	83/1114		14 May 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
106	15 May 1883	Edward Bewen Horne Mary Kennedy	Edward Beven Horne Mary Kennedy 💍 1883/1005	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	26 21	Petone Petone	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1019		15 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
107	18 May 1883	William Kilmister Elizabeth Wall	William Kilmister Elizabeth Wall 💍 1883/1007	Widower Widow	Labourer	50 35	Charis Charis	3 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1081		18 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
108	19 May 1883	Robert Caldwell Mary Ada Brown	Robert Caldwell Mary Ada Brown 💍 1883/28	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	30 19	Wellington Karori	4 days years	St. Marys Church	83/1103	Annia Brown, Mother	19 May 1883	Rev. Alexander Wasent
109	19 May 1883	Donald McBean Agnes Lister	Donald McBean Junr Agnes Lister 💍 1883/1332	Bachelor Spinster	Pattern Maker	26 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 6 days	House of Mr. McBean Senr., Perie Street	83/1115		19 May 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
110	21 May 1883	George Barnford Marian Prickard	George Bamford Marian Pritchard 💍 1883/1006	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 25	Wellington Wellington	5 days 5 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	83/1090		21 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
111	21 May 1883	William Miller Susan McLauren	William Miller Susan McLaren 💍 1883/1333	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	House of Mr. R. Miller, Tasman Street	83/1116		21 May 1883	Rev. J. Paterson
112	23 May 1883	Charles William Mitchell Esther Watson	Charles William Mitchell Hester Watson 💍 1883/19	Bachelor Spinster	Polisher	20 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. James Mitchell, Kent Terrace	83/1093	James Mitchell, Father Robert Watson, Father	23 May 1883	Rev. A. J. Smith
113	25 May 1883	William Knight Frances Martha Fry	William Knight Frances Martha Fry 💍 1883/20	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Hutt Hutt	years years	Residence of Mr. Fry, Hutt	83/1096		25 May 1883	Rev. David Roager
114	28 May 1883	Patrick Neylon Elizabeth Scanlon	Patrick Neylon Elizabeth Scanlon 💍 1883/1315	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	49 28	Wellington Wellington	2 weeks 4 days	St. Marys Cathedral	83/1122		28 May 1883	Rev. John McNamara
115	28 May 1883	Alfred George James Agnes Colgate	Alfred George Jeynet Agnes Colgate 💍 1883/1011	Bachelor Widow	Decorator	35 27	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	Mr. Heyes House, Willis Street	83/1062		28 May 1883	Rev. W. Bammber

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).