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 792

District of Wellington 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
49	23 February 1884	Richard Kelly Kate Flynn	Richard Kelly Kate Flynn 💍 1884/345	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Roman Catholic Cathedral	84/320	22 February 1884	Rev. J. McNamara
50	23 February 1884	William Hutchcox Ellen O'Shea	William Hitchcox Ellen O'Shea 💍 1884/327	Bachelor Widow	Labor	33 34	Porirua Makara	4 months years	Victory of the Angels	84/324	23 February 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
51	25 February 1884	Robert George Menck Alice Agnes Deely	Robert George Mence Alice Agnes Deely 💍 1884/275	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 21	Wellington Wellington	1 Week months	Registrars Office	84/323	25 February 1884	A. H. Smith Depy
52	28 February 1884	George Goode Harriette Riddiford	George Goode Henrietta Riddiford 💍 1884/324	Bachelor Spinster	M.D.	41 28	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	St. Pauls Cathedral	84/323	28 February 1884	Rev. R. J. Thorpe
53	3 March 1884	Hermann Hermanson Elizabeth Cross	Herman Hermansen Elizabeth Cross 💍 1884/528	Bachelor Spinster	Hospital Attendant	29 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	84/293	3 March 1884	Rev. R. Coffey
54	3 March 1884	James Wallace Smith Martha Shiell Scott	James Wallace Smith Martha Shiell Scott 💍 1884/3841	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Inspector	32 20	Petone Petone	3 days 2 months	Residence of Mr. Scott Petone	84/200	3 March 1884	Rev. C. L. Ogg
55	4 March 1884	Alexander Thomson Mary Foley	Alexander Thomson Mary Foley 💍 1884/276	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	84/274	4 March 1884	A. H. Smith Depy
56	4 March 1884	George Gaylard Charlotte Kirk	George Gaybeard Charlotte Kirk 💍 1884/277	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	35 29	Wellington Wellington	weeks 3 days	Registrars Office Wellington	84/275	4 March 1884	A. H. Smith Depy
57	5 March 1884	Henry Oscar Serford Elizabeth Kingcard	Henry Oscar Toogood Elizabeth Fitz Daive 💍 1884/278	Bachelor Divorced	Shepherd	22 25	Charus Charus	4 days years	Registrars Office	84/276	5 March 1884	A. H. Smith Depy
58	5 March 1884	Edward Arnold Sarah Moylan	Edward Arnold Sarah Moylan 💍 1884/279	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	22 21	Wellington Wellington	year months	Registrars Office Wellington	84/277	5 March 1884	A. H. Smith Depy
59	5 March 1884	Thomas Heyted Emma Champion	Thomas Mexted Emma Champion 💍 1884/508	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	Porirua Ferry Porirua	years years	Residence of Mr. George Heyted Tawa Flat	84/289	5 March 1884	Rev. A. J. Smith
60	10 March 1884	William Williamson Elizabeth Seideman	William Williamson Elizabeth Frideman 💍 1884/516	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 21	Wellington Wellington	year years	Primitive Methodist Church	84/305	10 March 1884	Rev. P. N. Hunter

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).