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 182

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 September 1884 Registrar Thomas Huickhoff

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

14 July 1884

Joseph Sullon
Margaret Livingstone Maxwell

Joseph Pullen
Margaret L Maxwell
💍 1884/2863

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
nil

28
21

Dunedin
Port Chalmers

10 years
2 years

House of Andrew Muir

84/2598

14 July 1884

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	14 July 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Sullon	Margaret Livingstone Maxwell
BDM Match (74%)	Joseph Pullen	Margaret L Maxwell
	💍 1884/2863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	nil
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Andrew Muir
Folio	84/2598
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

4 August 1884

Edward Duckworth
Christina Matthews Dove

Edward Knewstubb
Christina Matheson Dove
💍 1884/2911

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright
nil

25
21

Mangapoi Town
Port Chalmers

25 years
21 years

House of Ann Dove

84/2642

4 August 1884

Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

No	17
Date of Notice	4 August 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Duckworth	Christina Matthews Dove
BDM Match (63%)	Edward Knewstubb	Christina Matheson Dove
	💍 1884/2911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright	nil
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Mangapoi Town	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	25 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Ann Dove
Folio	84/2642
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

7 August 1884

William Westwood
Mary Ann Their

William Westwood
Mary Ann Heir
💍 1884/2867

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

29
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

7 years
21 years

House of George Crawford, Port Chalmers

84/2599

7 August 1884

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	7 August 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Westwood	Mary Ann Their
BDM Match (93%)	William Westwood	Mary Ann Heir
	💍 1884/2867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of George Crawford, Port Chalmers
Folio	84/2599
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

13 August 1884

Walter John Buisted
Violet Nichol Lockhart Leslie

Walter John Binsted
Violet Lockhart Nicol Leslie
💍 1884/2910

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
nil

28
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
5 years

House of William Leslie

84/2641

13 August 1884

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	13 August 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Buisted	Violet Nichol Lockhart Leslie
BDM Match (72%)	Walter John Binsted	Violet Lockhart Nicol Leslie
	💍 1884/2910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	nil
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of William Leslie
Folio	84/2641
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

26 August 1884

Walter Mason
Mary Jane Gill

Walter Mason
Mary Jane Gill
💍 1884/2913

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

26
21

St Leonards near Port Chalmers
St Leonards near Port Chalmers

2 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

84/2644

26 August 1884

Thos. Huickhoff, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	26 August 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Mason	Mary Jane Gill
	💍 1884/2913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	St Leonards near Port Chalmers	St Leonards near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	84/2644
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1884
Officiating Minister	Thos. Huickhoff, Registrar

23 September 1884

Charles Brown
Jemima Robb

Charles Brown
Jemima Robb
💍 1884/2912

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
nil

41
41

Deborah Bay Port Chalmers
Deborah Bay Port Chalmers

20 years
20 years

House of E. J. Harkness

84/2643

23 September 1884

Rev. W. G. Thomas, Wesleyan

No	21
Date of Notice	23 September 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brown	Jemima Robb
	💍 1884/2912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	nil
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Deborah Bay Port Chalmers	Deborah Bay Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of E. J. Harkness
Folio	84/2643
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Thomas, 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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).