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 436

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
291	11 August 1884	William Thomas Elizabeth Vogan	William Thomas Elizabeth Vogan 💍 1884/2844	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	35 32	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 5 years	Registrars Office	84/12356		11 August 1884	Registrar J. M. Palkerson
292	11 August 1884	William Edward Wilson Meash		Widower Spinster	Butcher Machinist	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	7 months 7 months	Church of St. Lukes	84/12074	W. Sperry, person to Consent	25 August 1884	Rev. F. A. Lingard, Church of England
293	11 August 1884	George Talbot Jane Mealing	George Talbot Jane Mealing 💍 1884/2830	Bachelor Spinster	Stevedore	47 29	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 9 years	House of Rev. W. Scrimshaw	84/12343		11 August 1884	Rev. W. Scrimshaw, Presbyterian
294	13 August 1884	Samuel Scott Ellen McConoughty	Samuel Scott Ellen McConoughty 💍 1884/2850	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	37 22	Templeton Addington	7 years 1 year	House of Rev. C. Fraser	84/12340		13 August 1884	Rev. C. Fraser, Free Church Christchurch
295	14 August 1884	Patrick Pope Elizabeth Walsh	Patrick Pope Elizabeth Walsh 💍 1884/2875	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	40 35	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	84/12630		14 August 1884	Rev. L. Mulgrew, Roman Catholic
296	16 August 1884	William Rose Me Kennie Alice Maud Clough		Widower Spinster	Coal dealer Housekeeper	45 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	House of Rev. R. Best, Gloucester Street	84/12408		16 August 1884	Rev. R. Best, Wesleyan
297	18 August 1884	William Robert Eliza Broom	William Robert Cant Eliza Broom 💍 1884/2880	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	36 25	Riccarton Christchurch	3 years 6 months	House of Mrs. Pryde	84/12635		18 August 1884	Rev. J. R. Parsons, Presbyterian
298	19 August 1884	John McClune Sangth		Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper Dressmaker	41 38	Halkett Courtenay	12 years 2 years	House of Gregory Grant	84/13373		19 August 1884	Rev. R. K. Burnell, Presbyterian
299	20 August 1884	James Muller Jenette Jones	James Miller Jenette Jones 💍 1884/2730 James Rose Rosetta Jones 💍 1884/271	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	23 17	Christchurch Christchurch	5 weeks 7 years	Registrars Office	84/12357	Father	20 August 1884	Registrar J. M. Palkerson

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).