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 784

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
124	24 May 1884	Jerome Sinclain Janet Coleman	Jerome Sinclair Jessie Coleman 💍 1884/1237	Bachelor Spinster	Woolsorter	28 25	Kaiwarra Kaiwarra	years years	Mr Coleman's house, Kaiwarra	84/2201		24 May 1884	Rev. C. J. Ogg
125	27 May 1884	Laurence Carroll Kate de Ilvenny	Laurence Carroll Kate McIlvenney 💍 1884/2174	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	30 29	Wellington Wellington	1 year 3 days	St. Marys Cathedral	84/1172		27 May 1884	Rev. John McNamara
126	29 May 1884	Frances Thomson Elizabeth Wilkinson	Francis Thomson Elizabeth Wilkinson 💍 1884/2095	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	35 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Wilkinson, Lorne Street	84/1165	John Wilkinson, father	29 May 1884	Rev. W. C. Oliver
127	30 May 1884	John Tinney Eleanor Agatha Mathews	John Tinney Eleanor Agatha Matthews 💍 1884/957	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 21	Wellington Carterton	years 2 months	Church of England, Carterton	84/1260		30 May 1884	Rev. W. Booth
128	31 May 1884	Edward Howard Louisa Harvey	Edward Howard Louisa Harvey 💍 1884/2115	Bachelor Widow	Gas Fitter	31 34	Wellington Wellington	12 months 12 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1223		31 May 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
129	2 June 1884	William Hoult Anne Amelia White	William Hault Annie Amelia White 💍 1884/2175	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Miller	38 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	St. Marys Cathedral	84/1193		2 June 1884	Rev. John McNamara
130	2 June 1884	Frederick William Robinson Alice Ellen McChellin Chappell	Frederick William Robinson Alice Ellen McMillin Chappell 💍 1884/2100	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Makara Makara	years years	Church of England, Makara	84/1199		2 June 1884	Rev. A. Dasent
131	2 June 1884	Charles Sten Sorensen Winefred Nolan	Charles Stien Sorensen Winifred Nolan 💍 1884/2116	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 34	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1224		2 June 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
132	3 June 1884	William Lovelace Alice Maud Ide	William Lovelace Alice Maud Ide 💍 1884/2117	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 21	Wellington Wellington	10 months 10 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1225		3 June 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
133	3 June 1884	Andrew Gillespie Mary Louisa Robinson	Andrew Gillespie Mary Louisa Robinson 💍 1884/2101	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	21 20	Wellington Makara	years years	St. Matthias Church, Makara	84/1200	Richard Robinson, father	3 June 1884	Rev. A. Dasent
134	7 June 1884	Hugh Beattie Thew Mary Ann Milligan	Hugh Beattie Thew Mary Ann Milligan 💍 1884/964	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	25 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Rev. A. J. Smith's house, Broadway Terrace	84/1232	Hugh Milligan, father	7 June 1884	Rev. A. J. Smith
135	9 June 1884	James Logan Annie King	James Logan Annie King 💍 1884/2120	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/1227		9 June 1884	W. T. Wyatt, Deputy

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).