Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 835

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 December 1884

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
13	1 October 1884	Charles Martin Frances Budd	Charles Martin Frances Budd 💍 1884/1533	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	46 33	Porewa Porewa	6 years 2 weeks	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	84/3064		1 October 1884	F. M. Deighton, Registrar
14	2 October 1884	Arthur Edward Remington Kate Edwards	Arthur Edward Remington Kate Edwards 💍 1884/1534	Bachelor Divorced female	Chemist	28 33	Bulls Bulls	5 years 7 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	84/3065		2 October 1884	F. M. Deighton, Registrar
15	8 October 1884	Joseph Gray Sarah Skipper	Joseph Gray Sarah Elizabeth Skipper 💍 1884/1539	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 18	Marton Marton	8 days 9 days	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	84/3070	Archibald John Skipper, father	8 October 1884	Revd. A. Lowgood
16	13 October 1884	William John Woolford Louisa Jones	William John Woolford Louisa Jones 💍 1884/1540	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 18	Bulls Bulls	10 years 2 years	The house of Mr. Charles Woolford, Bulls	84/3071	Thomas Jones, father	15 October 1884	Revd. J. C. Dodwell
17	14 October 1884	Joseph Henry Hammond Mary Campion	Joseph Penny Hammond Mary Campion 💍 1884/1594	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Bulls Feilding	18 years 4 months	The house of Mr. Campion, Feilding	Feilding 84/3076		14 October 1884	Revd. James Doull
18	14 November 1884	John Gray Bertha Carroll	John Gray Bertha Carroll 💍 1884/1535	Bachelor Widow	Station hand	24 27	Otakapo Marton	6 years 2 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	84/3066		14 November 1884	F. M. Deighton, Registrar
19	26 November 1884	Adolf Eilmar Reinhold Voght Annie Johnston	Adolf Elwin Reinhold Voght Annie Johnston 💍 1884/1536 Andrew Paterson Moffat Annie Johnston 💍 1884/2901	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	35 32	Marton Bonny Glen	5 years 20 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	84/3067		26 November 1884	F. M. Deighton, Registrar
20	12 December 1884	George Ernest Signal Elizabeth Hedges	George Ernest Signal Elizabeth Hedges 💍 1884/1531	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 24	Marton Marton	25 years 3 days	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	84/3062		12 December 1884	Revd. A. Lowgood
21	22 December 1884	John Thomas Lowid Margaret Fox	John Thomas Lound Margaret Fox 💍 1884/1532 Joseph Gibson Margaret Fox 💍 1884/1144	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	31 24	Marton Marton	6 years 3 days	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	84/3063		22 December 1884	Revd. A. Lowgood

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).