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 465

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 March 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
55	18 February 1884	Edward James Wisbry Jane Evans	Edward James Wisbey Jane Caroline Evans 💍 1884/495	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	35 27	Christchurch Heathcote Valley	3 years 2 years	St. Mary's Church, Christchurch	84/1549		18 February 1884	Rev. C. J. Inwood, Church of England
56	20 February 1884	Thomas Johnston Drake Elizabeth Rountree	Thomas Johnstone Drake Elizabeth Rowntree 💍 1884/483	Bachelor Spinster	Constable Dressmaker	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	St. Michael's Church, Lyttelton	84/1511	Father	20 February 1884	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
57	20 February 1884	Frank Marshall Stewart Isabella Thear	Frank Marshall Isabella Stewart 💍 1884/487	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	24 21	Templeton Christchurch	13 years 4 years	House of Robert Nicholls, Richmond	84/1540		20 February 1884	Rev. R. Brown, Presbyterian
58	23 February 1884	William Foley Elena Kelleher	William Foley Eliza Kelleher 💍 1884/502	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	25 22	Templeton Templeton	3 years 2 weeks	Roman Catholic Church, Lincoln	84/1533		23 February 1884	Rev. C. J. Cherrier, Roman Catholic
59	25 February 1884	Edward Richard Lewkenor Knight Annie Barton	Edward Richard Lewkenor Knight Annie Barton 💍 1884/472	Bachelor Spinster		21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 years	St. Luke's Church	84/1505	Thomas Barton, Father	25 February 1884	Rev. G. A. Lingard, Church of England
60	25 February 1884	William Hawkins Isabella Allston	William Hawkins Isabella Alston 💍 1884/489	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 9 years	House of James Allston	84/1542	James Allston, Father	25 February 1884	Rev. J. Plushie, Presbyterian
61	25 February 1884	Julius Abrel Rose Rosenthal	Julius Abel Rose Rosenthall 💍 1884/470	Bachelor Spinster	Cigarette Maker	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 months	Hebrew Synagogue, Montreal St.	84/1522		25 February 1884	Rev. I. Zachariah, Hebrew
62	29 February 1884	James Michael Coard Mary Eveline Denman	James Michael Coard Mary Eveline Denman 💍 1884/459	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 27	Christchurch Grey River	4 days 19 years	The Registry Office	84/1486	Alfred Denman, Father	29 February 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Walkerson
63	28 February 1884	John Rountree Annie Maria White	John Rountree Annie Maria White 💍 1884/461	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 21 years	St. Luke's Church	84/1504		28 February 1884	Rev. G. A. Lingard, Church of England

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).