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 780

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
155	1 July 1884	Peter James McIntosh Debnah Stanford	Peter James McIntosh Debora Stanford 💍 1884/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker	25 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Stanford, Edward Street	84/2143	John Thomas Morgan Stanford, father	1 July 1884	Revd W. C. Oliver
156	2 July 1884	Hans Christian Petersen Eliza Ann Love	Hans Christian Petersen Eliza Ann Love 💍 1884/2681	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	84/2148		2 July 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
157	2 July 1884	John Lee Kate Bresnan	John Lee Kate Bresnan 💍 1884/605	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office	84/2157		2 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
158	2 July 1884	James Rogers Agnes Read	James Rogers Agnes Read 💍 1884/628	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 19	Petone Wellington	4 months 7 months	Registrars office	84/2164	No parent in Colony	16 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
159	2 July 1884	Stephen William Mead Eliza Champion	Stephen William Mexted Eliza Champion 💍 1884/627	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 17	Porirua Porirua	years years	Registrars office	84/2163	No parent in Colony	16 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
160	2 July 1884	Charles Harry Hurst Elizabeth Lee	Charles Harry Turet Elizabeth Lee 💍 1884/1267	Widower Spinster	Porter	29 20	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	St Marks Church	84/2142	Elizabeth Lee, mother	2 July 1884	Revd R. Coffey
161	3 July 1884	William Henry Dobson Edith Mary Whiteley	William Henry Dobson Edith Mary Whiteley 💍 1884/616	Widower Spinster	Accountant	31 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office	84/2158		3 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
162	4 July 1884	Gemmia Augustus Kemperman Frances Irene Gattrall	Gemma Augustus Kemperman Frances Irene Gattrall 💍 1884/623	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	21 21	Wellington Wellington	6 months 18 months	Registrars office	84/2159		4 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
163	5 July 1884	George Lambert Mary Bergen	George Lambert Mary Bergin 💍 1884/624	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office	84/2160		5 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt deputy
164	9 July 1884	Thomas McGregor Matilda Jane Couchman	Thomas McGregor Matilda Jane Couchman 💍 1884/1589	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	23 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 14 months	Mr F. Couchmans House, Martin Square	84/3059		9 July 1884	Revd J. Paterson
165	14 July 1884	Hans Christensen Kelsen Selina Ralf	Hans Christensen Kelsen Selina Ralf 💍 1884/625	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	34 17	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Registrars office	84/2161	Jane Hougelt, mother	14 July 1884	Mr T. Wyatt Deputy
166	14 July 1884	Augustus Edward Stanley Lean Florence Edith Pynsent	Augustus Edward Stanley Carr Florence Edith Pynsent 💍 1884/1250	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	35 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Pauls Cathedral	84/2190		14 July 1884	Revd G. H. S. Walpole

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).