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 140

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1883

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

316

19 July 1883

David Goldie Kerras
Florence Alice Fortzer

David Goldie McKellas
Florence Alice Fortzer
💍 1883/1650

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21
20

Karangahape Road
Auckland

21 years
14 years

St James Church, Wellington Street

83/1706

Hannah Fortzer, mother

19 July 1883

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	316
Date of Notice	19 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Goldie Kerras	Florence Alice Fortzer
BDM Match (91%)	David Goldie McKellas	Florence Alice Fortzer
	💍 1883/1650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Karangahape Road	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Wellington Street
Folio	83/1706
Consent	Hannah Fortzer, mother
Date of Certificate	19 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

317

19 July 1883

Benjamin Button
Mary Crawford

Benjamin Hutson
Mary Crawford
💍 1883/1649

Bachelor
Spinster

Chimney Sweep

28
20

Hellensville
Dunedin

3 months
20 years

Dwelling of Reg. Upper Union Street

83/1707

James Crawford, father

19 July 1883

Rev. R. F. Macnicol

No	317
Date of Notice	19 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Button	Mary Crawford
BDM Match (93%)	Benjamin Hutson	Mary Crawford
	💍 1883/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chimney Sweep
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Hellensville	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Reg. Upper Union Street
Folio	83/1707
Consent	James Crawford, father
Date of Certificate	19 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol

318

19 July 1883

Thomas O'Beirne
Mary Agnes Quinn

Thomas O'Beirne
Mary Agnes Quinn
💍 1883/1708

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

24
19

Parnell
Parnell

4 years
2 years

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

83/1715

Julia Quinn, mother

19 July 1883

Rev. W. Macdonald, Roman Catholic

No	318
Date of Notice	19 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Beirne	Mary Agnes Quinn
	💍 1883/1708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	83/1715
Consent	Julia Quinn, mother
Date of Certificate	19 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Macdonald, Roman Catholic

319

20 July 1883

Alfred Robbins
Christine Pederson

Alfred Robbins
Christine Pedersen
💍 1883/2058

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

83/1773

20 July 1883

J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.

No	319
Date of Notice	20 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Robbins	Christine Pederson
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred Robbins	Christine Pedersen
	💍 1883/2058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	83/1773
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.

320

23 July 1883

Edmond Moriarty
Mary O'Sullivan

Edmond Moriarty
Mary O'Sullivan
💍 1883/3565

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
20

Mercury Bay
Avondale

18 months
16 years

St Benedict's Church, Newton

83/1733

Thomas O'Sullivan, father

23 July 1883

Very Rev. J. C. Corney, Roman Catholic

No	320
Date of Notice	23 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Moriarty	Mary O'Sullivan
	💍 1883/3565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Mercury Bay	Avondale
Length of Residence	18 months	16 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church, Newton
Folio	83/1733
Consent	Thomas O'Sullivan, father
Date of Certificate	23 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. C. Corney, Roman Catholic

321

23 July 1883

Peter Peterson
Ann Jane Picton

Peter Peterson
Ann Jane Pitcen
💍 1883/1642

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

31
25

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
8 years

St Matthew's Church, Hobson Street

83/1722

23 July 1883

Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	321
Date of Notice	23 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Peterson	Ann Jane Picton
BDM Match (90%)	Peter Peterson	Ann Jane Pitcen
	💍 1883/1642
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Hobson Street
Folio	83/1722
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1883
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson, Church of England

322

23 July 1883

Peter Beard
Rosetta Walker

Peter Beard
Roseatta Walker
💍 1883/1677

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
18

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
18 years

Office of Reg. Marriages

83/1776

Richard Walker, father

23 July 1883

J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.

No	322
Date of Notice	23 July 1883
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Beard	Rosetta Walker
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Beard	Roseatta Walker
	💍 1883/1677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Office of Reg. Marriages
Folio	83/1776
Consent	Richard Walker, father
Date of Certificate	23 July 1883
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Dep. Reg.

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 1903. 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).