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 374

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
355	24 May 1884	Alfred James Lavinia Pollett	Alfred James Lavinia Sollet 💍 1884/1071	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 years 24 years	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 1 year	Primitive Methodist Church, Ashburton	84/1535		24 May 1884	Revd John Dixon, Primitive Methodist
356	29 May 1884	William Measlem Alice King	William Meaclem Alice King 💍 1884/1044	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 years 19 years	Ashburton Ashburton	10 weeks 4 months	Registrar's Office	84/1540		12 June 1884	J. Ward, Registrar
357	7 June 1884	Richard McBride Anne Moore	Richard McBride Annie Moore 💍 1884/1070	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 years 26 years	Methven Holmdale	2 years 5 years	Presbyterian Manse, Ashburton	84/1534	Thomas Moore, Father	7 June 1884	Revd A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
358	10 June 1884	Henry Paget Margaret Toppin	Henry Paget Margaret Toppin 💍 1884/1064	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 years 19 years	Southbridge (Ashburton) Ashburton	6 months 9 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	84/1529	Thomas Toppin, Father	10 June 1884	Revd S. A. Scott, Church of England
359	10 June 1884	Philip Reeves Mary Stephens	Philip Reeves Mary Stephens 💍 1884/1066	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	27 years 20 years	Waterton Waterton	7 years 7 years	Episcopalian Church, Waterton	84/1531	Robert Stephens, Father	12 June 1884	Revd R. F. Garbett, Tinwald
360	12 June 1884	George Arthur Raffles Sarah Junk	George Arthur Raffills Sarah Junk 💍 1884/1049	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Cleaner Domestic Servant	21 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 months 1 week	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	84/1541		12 June 1884	J. Ward, Registrar
361	19 June 1884	Archibald McLachlan Mary Lamont	Archibald McLachlan Mary Lamont 💍 1884/1050	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 years 16 years	Kyle Doyleston	7 months 2 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	84/1542	John Lamont, Father	19 June 1884	J. Ward, Registrar
362	23 June 1884	Frederick James Stitchings Matilda Williams	Frederick James Hitchings Matilda Williams 💍 1884/1052	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	18 years 17 years	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 5 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	84/1544	James Stitchings, Father; Philip Williams, Father	24 June 1884	J. Ward, Registrar
363	24 June 1884	William Davidson Louisa Jane Duffield	William Davidson Louisa Jane Duffield 💍 1884/1051	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 years 29 years	Maronan Maronan	5 years 10 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	84/1543		24 June 1884	J. Ward, Registrar

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).