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 445

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
216	10 June 1884	Samuel Charles Read Martha White	Samuel Charles Read Martha Mary White 💍 1884/2232	Bachelor Spinster	Cutler Machinist	21 17	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	St. Lukes Church	84/1416	Mother	10 June 1884	Rev. Z. A. Lingard, Church of England
217	11 June 1884	Alexander Reid Alice Jackson	Alexander Reid Alice Jackson 💍 1884/2368	Widower Widow	Pilot Housekeeper	50 36	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 months	St. Michaels Church	84/1464		11 June 1884	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
218	13 June 1884	Alexander Gordon Mary Caroline Walker	Alexander Gordon Mary Caroline Parkes Long 💍 1884/2297	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Maker	23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years	Registrars Office	84/1447	Long	13 June 1884	Registrar of Marriages
219	13 June 1884	George Dewe Fanny Dewe	George Dewe Fanny Dewe 💍 1884/706	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	19	Christchurch House of Richard Dewe	19 years 4 years	House of Richard Dewe	84/3804	Richard Dewe	13 June 1884	Rev. J. S. Gilmore, Baptist
220	14 June 1884	Robert Macklin Sarah Highsted	Robert Macklin Duncan Sarah Highsted 💍 1884/2298	Bachelor Spinster	Boot Fitter Blacksmith	20 26	Christchurch Papanni	10 years 4 years	Bath St. Church	84/1448	Father	14 June 1884	Registrar of Marriages
221	14 June 1884	Alexander McDonald Emily Morgan	Alexander McDonald Emily Morgan 💍 1884/2882	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	27 21	Papanni Papanni	21 years 3 months	Roman Catholic Church	84/2623	Elizabeth Jensen	14 June 1884	Rev. L. McGuinly, Roman Catholic
222	16 June 1884	James Watson Margaret Cumming	James Watson Margaret Ann Foreman 💍 1884/2248	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	24 21	Weedon Templeton	15 years 20 years	Templeton Church	84/1409	Mother	16 June 1884	Rev. A. Wright, Church of England
223	16 June 1884	Ernest Softon Ellen Margaret Ware	Ernest Sefton Ellen Margaret Ware 💍 1884/2233	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 4 years	St. Lukes Church	84/1417		16 June 1884	Rev. Z. A. Lingard, Church of England
224	16 June 1884	Henry Brinkman Margaret Lawson Paterson	Henry Brinkman Margaret Lawson Paterson 💍 1884/1015	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 21	Sydenham Colombo Rd, Sydenham	4 years 2 years	House of Patrick Paterson	84/1503	Patrick Paterson	16 June 1884	Rev. J. Crump, 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).