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 375

District of Ashburton 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
346	3 April 1884	James Keir Janet Wallace	James Keir Janet Young Wallace 💍 1884/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 years 23 years	Ashburton Southbrook	2 years 10 years	Private dwelling house of George Wallace	Rangiora 84/1368		3 April 1884	Revd. Joseph Rapley, Wesleyan
347	26 April 1884	Timothy Bradley Margaret O'Kiffe	Timothy Bradley Maggie O'Keeffe 💍 1884/1072	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	30 years 25 years	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	84/1536		26 April 1884	Revd. Edmund P. Coffey, Roman Catholic
348	30 April 1884	Arthur Padget Mary Coney	Arthur Padget Mary Coney 💍 1884/3761	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	84/1539		30 April 1884	Ward, Registrar
349	2 May 1884	John Frederic Moore Johanna Hofmeister	John Frederick Moore Johanna Hofmeister 💍 1884/1068	Bachelor Widow	Brewer	24 years 37 years	Ashburton Ashburton	18 months 3 years	Private dwelling house of Mrs. Hofmeister	84/1532		2 May 1884	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
350	9 May 1884	Patrick Fitzgerald Bridget Kelliher	Patrick Fitzgerald Bridget Kelliher 💍 1884/1073	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	30 years 24 years	Ashburton Ashburton	7 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/1534		9 May 1884	Revd. E. Coffey, Roman Catholic Church of England
351	15 May 1884	James Coffey Norah O'Brien	James Coffey Nora O'Brien 💍 1884/1033	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	31 years 24 years	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 3 1/2 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/1538		15 May 1884	Revd. E. Coffey, Roman Catholic Church of England
352	20 May 1884	Allan McRae Jemima McRae	Allan McRae Jemima McRae 💍 1884/1065	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic Servant	34 years 28 years	Mount Somers Mount Somers	2 years 9 months	Presbyterian Manse, Alford Forest	84/1530		20 May 1884	Revd. A. McLennan, Presbyterian
353	20 May 1884	William Hicks Caroline Woodley	William Hicks Caroline Woodley 💍 1884/1063	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-builder	26 years 18 years	Ashburton Ashburton	10 years 9 months	Private dwelling house of William Hicks	84/1528	Mary Ann Louisa Woodley, Mother	20 May 1884	Revd. R. S. Standage, Wesleyan
354	23 May 1884	William Gray Maria Stockdill	William Gray Maria Stockdill 💍 1884/1069	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 24 years	Wheatstone Flemington	6 years 4 years	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton	84/1533		23 May 1884	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian

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).