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 470

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
10	7 January 1884	William Williams Maria Demack	William Williams Maria Dimock 💍 1884/2249	Widower Spinster	Painter Housekeeper	73 52	Richmond Richmond	7 years 5 years	In the House of William Williams	84/1410		7 January 1884	Rev. J. Hice, Presbyterian
11	7 January 1884	Andrew Harre Lydia Ann Holder	Andrew Harre Lydia Ann Holder 💍 1884/503	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Painter	24 27	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In the House of Andrew Harre	84/534		7 January 1884	Rev. Z. Best, Wesleyan
12	7 January 1884	William Walter Webber Clara Webber	William Walter Henry Smith Clara Webber 💍 1884/428	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 18	Sydenham Sydenham	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office	84/478	Father	7 January 1884	J. M. Mackerson, Registrar of Marriages
13	7 January 1884	John McKay Elizabeth Rennison	John McKay Annie Elizabeth Rennison 💍 1884/506	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler Maker Servant	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year Worcester Street	In the House of Mr. Elerey	84/534		7 January 1884	Rev. S. Slocombe, Presbyterian
14	8 January 1884	Alfred Ernest Hall Amelia Smith		Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 20 years	Registrars Office	84/479		8 January 1884	J. M. Mackerson, Registrar of Marriages
15	10 January 1884	William Dempsey Mary Jane King	William Dempsey Mary Jane Erickson 💍 1884/437	Widower Widow	Labourer Servant	42 23	Sydenham Sydenham	6 months 6 months	Registrars Office	84/479		10 January 1884	J. M. Mackerson, Registrar of Marriages
16	12 January 1884	James Wilson Mary Jane Mansfield	James Wilson Martha Hooey 💍 1884/2745 James Wilson Caroline Young 💍 1885/3813 James Wilson Frances Laurence 💍 1884/1973	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 7 years Durham St	Wesleyan Chapel	84/845		12 January 1884	Rev. Z. Best
17	14 January 1884	Cornelius Counahant Bridget Leen	Cornelius Counahan Bridget Lunny 💍 1884/2872 Cornelius Gavan Bridget Russell 💍 1884/2049	Widower Servant	Labourer	37 31	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 6 years	In the Roman Catholic Church	84/2606		14 January 1884	Rev. D. Mc Quarty, Roman Catholic
18	14 January 1884	James Ralph Davidson Catherine Arnold	James Ralph Davidson Catherine Arnold 💍 1884/1872	Widower Spinster	Compositor Servant	35 39	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 years	In St. Johns Church	84/842		14 January 1884	Rev. H. E. W. Watson, Church of England

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).