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 447

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
199	5 June 1884	James Joseph Jackson Ada Rachel Whyte		Bachelor Servant	Laborer Servant	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/1262	Thomas June, Father	5 June 1884	Rev. L. McGrealy
200	5 June 1884	David Armstrong Sarah Milne	David Armstrong Sarah Milne 💍 1884/2360	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Papanni	3 days 10 years	Presbyterian Church	84/1444	Father	5 June 1884	Rev. T. M. Hanswell
201	5 June 1884	George Frederick Smith Lucy Lacey	George Frederick Smith Lucy Caroline Bean 💍 1884/2207	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Spinster	26 25	Christchurch Rangiora	7 years 25 years	St. John's Church, Rangiora	84/1364	New Arch: Dudley	5 June 1884	Church of England
202	5 June 1884	William Brisley Elizabeth Forrest	William Brizley Elizabeth Forrest 💍 1884/1026	Widower Widow	Carrier Housekeeper	45 36	Spreydon Spreydon	21 Cas & Peaks 6 years Addington	House	84/1492	Rev. I. Wilson	5 June 1884	Bible Christian
203	5 June 1884	White Richard Sarah Meared Ethel		Widower Spinster	Bricklayer Servant	38 25	St. Albans St. Albans	20 years 4 months	House of Rev. W. Deinwiddie	84/1491	Rev. W. Deinwiddie	5 June 1884	Presbyterian
204	6 June 1884	George Turley Kate Legge	George Turley Kate Louisa Legge 💍 1884/2318	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	28 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 weeks 10 years	Registrar's Office	84/1445	Maria Legge, Mother	6 June 1884	J. J. Halkerson
205	6 June 1884	James Jones Annie Mullins	James Jones Annie Mullins 💍 1884/2874 James King Ellen Mullins 💍 1885/248	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Housekeeper	45 40	Sydenham Sydenham	7 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/1262	Rev. L. McGrealy	6 June 1884	Roman Catholic
206	6 June 1884	Johan Siebein Maria Dittmer	Johan Siebein Mina Dittmer 💍 1884/2317	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Spinster	34 20	Tai Tapu Christchurch	7 years 7 months	Registrar's Office	84/1444	Henry Dittmer, Father	6 June 1884	J. J. Halkerson
207	7 June 1884	George Henry Palmer Edith Cate	George Henry Palmer Edith Cate 💍 1884/2379	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	20 21	Papanni New Brighton	20 years 5 years	House of Mr. Cate	84/1469	Rev. Z. Best	7 June 1884	Wesleyan

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).