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 418

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 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
435	19 December 1884	John Duncan Scott Sarah Clementina Thomson	John Duncan Scott Sarah Clementina Thomson 💍 1884/3573	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic Dressmaker	24 25	Christchurch Dunedin	2 years 5 years	House of Mrs Thomson, Levens Street	84/3522		19 December 1884	Rev. W. Salmond, Presbyterian
436	20 December 1884	William Henry Dalley Mary Reese	William Henry Daldy Mary Reese 💍 1884/664	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 33	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 10 years	St Pauls Church, Cashel Street	84/3434		20 December 1884	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
437	22 December 1884	Nils Herman Bornholdt Alice Sophia Holloway	Nils Herman Enger Gronwall Alice Sophia Hellway 💍 1884/685	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Maker Dressmaker	41 22	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 12 years	St Johns Church	84/3482		22 December 1884	Rev. Robert Watson, Church of England
438	22 December 1884	Alfred Simper White Kate Elizabeth White	Alfred Simpson Katie Elizabeth White 💍 1884/684	Widower Spinster	Stationer	45 19	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 6 days	St Johns Church	84/3481	William White, father	22 December 1884	Rev. T. A. Lingard, Church of England
439	22 December 1884	Francis Parkes Jane Easton	Francis Parker Jane Easton 💍 1885/631	Widower Widow	Gardener Machinist	46 41	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 10 years	Methodist Church	85/562		22 December 1884	Rev. C. Worboys, Methodist
440	22 December 1884	Nathaniel Frederick Month Mary Ricor	Nathaniel Frederick Moody Mary Nicol 💍 1884/3588	Widower Widow	Carpenter Midwife	54 57	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 9 years	House of Mrs Ricor, Barbadoes Street	84/3575		22 December 1884	Rev. S. Bond, Wesleyan
441	22 December 1884	Orlando Goodall Emily Merson	Orlando Goodall Emily Merson 💍 1884/3413	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 23	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 23 years	St Lukes Church	84/3519		22 December 1884	Rev. [illegible], Church of England
442	22 December 1884	Thomas Henry Osborne Caroline Bray Trebilcock	Thomas Henry Osborne Caroline Bray Trebilcock 💍 1884/1554	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 9 years	House of John Trebilcock, Stevens Street	84/3351	John Trebilcock, father	22 December 1884	Rev. J. Wilson, Bible Christian
443	22 December 1884	George Squire Marie Lilienthal	George Squire Marie Lilienthal 💍 1884/3505	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 weeks	House of Mrs Pearce, Carlton Place	84/3353		22 December 1884	Rev. J. Flavell, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).