Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 550

District of [illegible] Quarter ending 30 September 1885

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
275	20 August 1885	George Stokes Alice Dippersheim	George Stokes Alice Dippenhaim 💍 1885/2473	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Messenger	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 5 years	Good Shepherd, Phillipstown	85/2520		20 August 1885	Rev. H. J. E. Gilbert
276	20 August 1885	William Johnson Selina Uren	William Johnson Selina Uren 💍 1885/2484	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 12 years	House of J. R. Uren, St. Albans	85/2573		20 August 1885	Rev. J. Lewis
277	21 August 1885	George Hayburn Frances Dobson	George Hogben Emily Frances Dobson 💍 1885/2395	Bachelor Spinster	School Master	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 2 years	St. Michael's Church	85/2483		21 August 1885	Rev. W. Harper
278	21 August 1885	Edgar Kuisman Elizabeth Anne Wills	Edgar Kinsman Elizabeth Ann Wills 💍 1885/2396	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 10 years	St. Michael's Church	85/2484	Father	21 August 1885	Rev. W. Harper
279	22 August 1885	Ernest William Polly Page	Ernest William Clarkson Polly Page 💍 1885/2393	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	21 19	Aboard Ship Christchurch	- 3 weeks	Registrar's Office	85/2503	Father	22 August 1885	Joseph Page, Registrar
280	24 August 1885	James Alexander Ruth Catherin		Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 weeks	House of Rev. W. Deimiedie, Train Track	85/2453		24 August 1885	Rev. W. Deimiedie
281	27 August 1885	Samuel Hewett Annie Roberts	Samuel Hewett Annie Roberts 💍 1885/2468	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Milliner	26 31	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 6 years	House of Rev. C. Vallaston, Avonside	85/2521		27 August 1885	Rev. C. Vallaston
282	29 August 1885	William Thomson Christina Mahuke	William Thomson Christina Mahuke 💍 1885/3342	Bachelor Widow	Grocer	39 39	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 2 years	House of Rev. J. Plensie, Lichfield Street	85/3341		29 August 1885	Rev. J. Plensie
283	1 September 1885	Alfred John Brockett Kate Payne	Alfred John Brockett Kate Payne 💍 1885/2470	Bachelor Spinster	Clicker Machinist	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 24 years	Baptist Chapel, Sydenham	85/2523		1 September 1885	Rev. J. S. Gilmore

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).