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 849

District of Wanganui 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	12 January 1884	Thomas Lloyd Margaret Coakley	Thomas Lloyd Margaret Coakley 💍 1884/251	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	28 25	Wanganui Wanganui	3 1/2 years 20 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	84/240	12 July 1884	Rev. C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
5	25 January 1884	William Arthur Smith Alice Dixon	William Arthur Smith Alice Dixon 💍 1884/199	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	28 21	Wanganui Wanganui	10 years 2 weeks	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	84/234	25 January 1884	G. W. Woon, Registrar
	21 January 1884	Walter George Porritt Susan Henrina Nathan	Walter George Coker Susan Hearn Nathan 💍 1884/196	Bachelor Spinster	Piano Tuner	32 26	Wanganui Nathan	6 years 26 years	In the Residence of - Nathan, the bride's father	84/231	21 January 1884	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian
	23 January 1884	Robert Hugh Rake Bertha Ford	Robert Hugh Peake Bertha Stent 💍 1884/190	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 26	St. Johns Hill St. Johns Hill	12 years 12 years	In the Church of England, Wanganui	84/227	23 January 1884	Rev. F. T. Baker, Church of England
	24 January 1884	Thomas Stewart Antonia Emma Timson	Thomas Stewart Antonia Emma Thomson 💍 1884/3707	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	23 21	Wanganui Wanganui	4 months 3 months	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	84/235	24 January 1884	G. W. Woon, Registrar
	1 February 1884	John Henry Henley Mary Ann Williams	John Henry Henley Mary Ann Williams 💍 1884/200	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith Milliner	24 27	Wanganui Wanganui	5 years 8 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	84/236	1 February 1884	G. W. Woon, Registrar
	1 February 1884	William Reardon Mary Ann Harris	William Reardon Mary Ann Harris 💍 1884/197	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 23	Maxwelltown Aramoho	5 years 18 months	In the residence of Rev. Jas. Treadwell, Wanganui	84/230	1 February 1884	Rev. Jas. Treadwell, Presbyterian
	5 February 1884	James Smith Emma Fox	James Smith Emma Poy 💍 1884/191	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	31 32	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	84/237	5 February 1884	G. W. Woon, Registrar
	6 February 1884	Albert Augustine Bower Elizabeth Rowe	Albert Augustine Gower Elizabeth Rowe 💍 1884/193	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 21	Wanganui Wanganui	25 years 2 years	In the Church of England, Wanganui	84/238	6 February 1884	Rev. F. T. Baker, 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).