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 776

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
203	5 September 1884	Arthur Robert Stedman Catherine Mary Hand	Arthur Robert Stedman Catherine Mary Hand 💍 1884/2684	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	25 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Peters Church	84/2151		5 September 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock C. of E.
204	6 September 1884	William James Mitchell Louisa Campbell Skellon	William James Mitchell Louisa Campbell Eberlet 💍 1884/619	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2148	Alice Elizabeth Skellon Mother	6 September 1884	Mr. W. Wyatt Deputy
205	6 September 1884	Henry John Seymour Phoebe Judd	Henry John Seymour Phoebe Gent 💍 1885/662	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	28 17	Wellington Wellington	1 month 3 months	Registrars office Wellington	85/1634	No parent in Colony
206	8 September 1884	Cecil Hooper Biss Ella Rowena Rowdon	Cecil Hooper Biss Ella Rosina Rowdon 💍 1884/620	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2149		8 September 1884	Mr. W. Wyatt Deputy
207	9 September 1884	John Barber Elizabeth Donnelly	John Barber Elizabeth Donnelly 💍 1884/2870	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	32 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/2603		9 September 1884	Revd. P. Kerrigan R.C.
208	9 September 1884	Ward Parker Janet Heagland	Ward Parker Janet Hedgland 💍 1884/1230	Bachelor Widow	Hydropathist	56 39	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2182		9 September 1884	Mr. W. Wyatt Deputy
209	9 September 1884	John Archbold Elliott Lucy Alice Slattery	John Archibald Elliott Lucy Alice Slattery 💍 1884/2871	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	22 19	Wellington Wellington	2 months 3 Weeks	St. Mary of the Angels	84/2604	John Patrick Slattery Father	9 September 1884	Revd. P. Kerrigan R.C.
210	10 September 1884	James Herbert Gamble Elizabeth Lucy Emery	James Herbert Gamble Elizabeth Lucy Emeny 💍 1884/2685	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	22 20	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	St. Peters Church	84/2152	William George Emery Father	10 September 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock C. of E.
211	11 September 1884	Frederick Ernest Ashdown Eva Matilda McMillan	Frederick Ernest Ashdown Eva Matilda McMillan 💍 1884/2677	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	23 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd. A. J. Smith Sydney Street	84/2156	Thomas McMillan Father	11 September 1884	Revd. A. J. Smith
212	13 September 1884	Thomas Shepherd Esther Fairey	Thomas Shepherd Esther Fairey 💍 1884/621	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 22	Mangaroa Valley Mangaroa Valley	years years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2180		13 September 1884	Mr. W. Wyatt Deputy
213	15 September 1884	Moses Smith Catherine McLaren	Moses Smith Catherine McLaren 💍 1884/622	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars office Wellington	84/2181		15 September 1884	Mr. W. Wyatt Deputy
214	15 September 1884	William Anderson Olive Olsen	William Anderson Olava Olsen 💍 1884/3284	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 23	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	New Robs House Every Place	84/3100		15 September 1884	Revd. W. B. Redstone Minister

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).