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 394

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
80	16 April 1883	Thomas Jackson Hollin Margaret Scheddewick	Thomas Jackson Hollis Margaret Scheddurick 💍 1883/995	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Spinster	22 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	83/1090	Mary Scheddewick, Mother	16 April 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
81	18 April 1883	John Moloney Harriet Coiel	John Moloney Harriet Coiel 💍 1883/996	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	30 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 3 months	Registrars office Wellington	83/1101		18 April 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
82	19 April 1883	William Edward Astill Emily Dunn Skipper	William Edward Astill Emily Dunn Skipper 💍 1883/997	Bachelor Spinster	Cab driver Spinster	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	83/1092	John Astill, Father	19 April 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
83	19 April 1883	Henry Bradley Emma Bradley	Henry Biddle Emma Bradley 💍 1883/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Spinster	22 16	Wellington Wellington	16 months years	Wesleyan Parsonage Taranaki Place	83/1058	John Bradley, Father	19 April 1883	Rev. R. Barn
84	21 April 1883	Llewellyn Gwilliam Louisa Bolton	Llewellyn Gwilliam Louisa Bolton 💍 1883/25	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Spinster	23 17	Hutt Hutt	years years	House of Mrs Bolton Hutt	83/1101	Martha Bolton, Mother	21 April 1883	Rev. Samuel J. Garlick
85	23 April 1883	Earnest Haiden Martha Elizabeth Swafford	Edment Maidment Martha Elizabeth Swafford 💍 1883/33	Bachelor Spinster	Driver Spinster	23 21	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	St James Church Lower Hutt	83/1108		23 April 1883	Rev. D. Fancourt
86	23 April 1883	David Davidson Rodger Margaret Murray	David Davidson Rodger Margaret Murray 💍 1883/1924	Bachelor Spinster	Presbyterian Minister Spinster	27 25	Hutt Wellington	1 week 1 month	House of Rev. C. S. Ogg Terrace	83/1200		23 April 1883	Rev. C. S. Ogg
87	23 April 1883	Inia Tuhata Pirihera Hipirini	Inia Tuhata Pirihira Hipirini 💍 1883/1001	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	20 22	Porirua Porirua	4 days years	Registrars office Wellington	83/1094	Natana Te Fieldahoi, Father, Te Ao Colony	7 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
88	25 April 1883	Robert Blom Anna Rangna Krusen	Robert Blom Anna Rangua Krusen 💍 1883/998	Bachelor Widow	Wheelwright Widow	34 36	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	Registrars office Wellington	83/1093		25 April 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
89	25 April 1883	John Alexander Walker Frances Jane Hubble	John Alexander Walker Frances Jane Hubble 💍 1883/32	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Spinster	27 21	Wellington Hutt	years years	Christ Church Taita	83/1107		25 April 1883	Rev. J. Fancourt
90	25 April 1883	Edwin Gough Annie Tynes	[No folio number - it appears no marriage was registered]	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Spinster	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington		No relation in Colony	9 May 1883	J. G. Holdsworth
91	26 April 1883	Frederick Stephen Cooper Martha Andrew	Frederick Stephen Cooper Martha Andrews 💍 1883/1000	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Spinster	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years		83/1075		26 April 1883	J. G. Holdsworth

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 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).