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 786

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
100	28 April 1884	Patrick Galvin Jane Elizabeth Brown	Patrick Galvin Jane Elizabeth Brown 💍 1884/839	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	37 27	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks years	St. Paul's Cathedral	84/1196		28 April 1884	Rev. Thomas Fancourt
101	28 April 1884	John Holman Kingdom Elizabeth Jane Rayner	John Holman Kingdon Elizabeth Jane Rayner 💍 1884/2985	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	84/1249		28 April 1884	Rev. E. J. Cross
102	28 April 1884	Daniel Dee Hyde Martha Ellen Ross	Daniel Del Hyde Martha Ellen Ross 💍 1884/2178	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/1197	William Fraser Ross, father	28 April 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
103	30 April 1884	Patrick Lee Margaret Hurley	Patrick Culhane Margaret Mullen 💍 1884/1177 Patrick McGirr Margaret Bourke 💍 1885/841 Patrick Hogan Margaret Rohan 💍 1884/3709	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/1198		30 April 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
104	30 April 1884	James Alexander Donaldson Annie Christina Hansen	James Alexander Donaldson Annie Christine Hanson 💍 1884/2124	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	The Rev. A. J. Smith's Home, Broadway Terrace	84/1231	Andreas Hansen, father	30 April 1884	Rev. A. J. Smith
105	30 April 1884	William Gamm Annie Wilson	William Camm Annie Wilson 💍 1884/2129	Widower Widow	Farmer	62 28	Porirua Porirua	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1213		30 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
106	1 May 1884	Thomas Hensman Emma Smith	Thomas Hensman Emma Smith 💍 1884/982	Bachelor Spinster	Blind maker	29 28	Wellington Wellington	13 months years	Trinity St. Peter's Church	84/1237		1 May 1884	Venble. Archdeacon Stock
107	2 May 1884	George David John Duck Emily Thirley	George David John Duck Emily Shirley 💍 1884/3756	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Duck, Omakori Road	84/1194		2 May 1884	Rev. P. N. Hunter
108	3 May 1884	Johan Oscar Carlson Sarah Elizabeth Russell	Johan Oscar Carlson Sarah Elizabeth Russell 💍 1884/2130	Divorced Divorced	Carpenter	30 28	Taita Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1214		3 May 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
109	3 May 1884	Richard Oliver Mary Carrigan	Richard Oliver Mary Carrigan 💍 1884/2179	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/1199		3 May 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
110	3 May 1884	Francis Charles Cobbett Magdalena Wagner	Francis Charles Cobbett Magdalena Wagner 💍 1884/2131	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 26	Wellington Wellington	2 weeks 2 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1215		3 May 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
111	5 May 1884	William Napier Isabella Ritchie Dick	William Napier Isabel Richie Dick 💍 1884/2094	Widower Spinster	Cabinet maker	34 29	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 week	Wesleyan Parsonage, Taranaki Street	84/1164		5 May 1884	Rev. W. C. Oliver

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).