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 451

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 June 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
163	9 May 1884	Henry Lee Katherine Schieblich	Henry Lee Butter Katherine Schieblick 💍 1884/2376	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 3 years	House of Rev R. Rinoul	84/1466	Father	9 May 1884	Rev R. Rinoul, Presbyterian
164	9 May 1884	Archibald Lamb Janet Cameron	Archibald Lamb Janet Cameron 💍 1884/585	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Housemaid	57 33	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 3 years	Registrars Office	84/1434		9 May 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Parkinson
165	12 May 1884	Robert Meanzon Margaret Finlay	Robert Manson Margaret Finlay 💍 1884/3501	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	West Melton West Melton	1 week 5 years	House of Little Rakaia, Robert Finlay	84/1341		12 May 1884	Rev H. S. Burnett, Presbyterian
166	12 May 1884	Charles Henry Fanny Slimock	Charles Henry Measday Fanny Simmock 💍 1884/2305 Charles Kirk Fanny Wise 💍 1884/3708	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	21 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	St Albans	84/1455		12 May 1884	Rev G. Morley, Wesleyan
167	13 May 1884	Denis Mahoney Mary Scinelly	Denis Mahoney Mary Finnelly 💍 1884/2860	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 months	Roman Catholic Church	84/2615		13 May 1884	Rev J. McGuaty, Roman Catholic
168	15 May 1884	Richard Fisher Annie Peacock	Richard Fisher Eliza Annie Peacock 💍 1884/587	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 3 years	Registrars Office	84/1436	Father	15 May 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Parkinson
169	16 May 1884	James Johnson Alice McPellow		Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 3 years	Registrars Office	84/1485	William Burns	16 May 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. W. Parkinson
170	16 May 1884	John Keilby Elizabeth Barker	John Magee Elizabeth Baker 💍 1884/287 John Alley Elizabeth Ducie 💍 1884/1462 John Arkla Elizabeth Hester 💍 1885/249 John Mulvany Elizabeth Burns 💍 1885/546 John Harvey Elizabeth Lawton 💍 1884/1669 John Creighten Elizabeth Norbury 💍 1884/2098 John Martin Elizabeth Martin 💍 1885/230 John Ward Elizabeth Stokes 💍 1884/2812 John Petley Elizabeth Jane Douglass 💍 1884/1453	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 19 years	Roman Catholic Church, Little Akaloa	84/2616	Father	16 May 1884	Rev J. McGuaty, Roman Catholic
171	17 May 1884	John Moore Emma Jarrett	John Moore Emma Jarrett 💍 1884/2370	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	Phillipstown Church	84/1483		17 May 1884	Rev J. C. Gilbert, 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).