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 774

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
226	16 October 1884	William George Bradnock Catherine Ann Pain	William George Bradnock Catherine Ann Pain Manley 💍 1884/3287	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 24	Karori Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Craig, Nelson Street	84/3113		1 October 1884	Rev. J. J. Hinton
227	2 October 1884	Lawrence Body Annie Mahony	Lawrence Cody Annie Mahoney 💍 1884/3331	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Wellington Wellington	6 days 9 months	St. Mary of the Angels	84/3184		2 October 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
228	3 October 1884	Charles Ashton Annie Mabey	Charles Ashton Annie Mabey 💍 1884/3631	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 19	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	84/3118	Esther Russell, Mother	3 October 1884	W. T. Wyatt
229	6 October 1884	Lawrence Williams Elizabeth Mary Ann Howes	Lawrence Williams Elizabeth Mary Ann Howes 💍 1884/3633	Bachelor Widow	Stone Mason	24 25	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	Registrars office, Wellington	84/3120		6 October 1884	Mr. T. Wyatt
230	6 October 1884	William Ham Susan Mary Ready	William Ham Susan Mary Ready 💍 1884/3292	Bachelor Spinster	Custodian Supreme Court	22 19	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Peters Church	84/3104	Robert Ready, Father	6 October 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
231	7 October 1884	Thomas Geoghegan Johanna Hayes	Thomas Geoghegan Johanna Hayes 💍 1884/3334	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Tawa Flat Wellington	18 months 2 years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/3186		7 October 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
232	8 October 1884	Robert Thomas Stockbridge Harriette Eleanor Archer	Robert Thomas Stockbridge Harriett Eleanor Archer 💍 1884/1668	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	House of Bridegroom, Riddiford Street	84/3667		8 October 1884	Rev. A. J. Smith
233	8 October 1884	Michael McCauley Emma Smith	Michael McCauley Emma Smith 💍 1884/3632	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	26 34	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	84/3119		8 October 1884	Mr. T. Wyatt
234	8 October 1884	James Barr Mary Hastings	James Barr Mary Hastings 💍 1884/3634	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 17	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrars office, Wellington	84/3121	Elizabeth Dark, Mother	8 October 1884	Mr. T. Wyatt
235	13 October 1884	John Thomas Toon Alice Sterling	John Thomas Toon Alice Sterling 💍 1884/1593	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Wellington Kaiwarra	3 days 10 months	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	84/3093		13 October 1884	Rev. W. Baumber
236	14 October 1884	David McKinlay Orr Annie Barbara Arcus	David McKinley Orr Annie Barbara Avens 💍 1884/1741	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper	27 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	The Manse, Wellington Terrace	84/3693		14 October 1884	Rev. G. S. Ogg
237	15 October 1884	Thomas Smith Magdalena Stewart	Thomas Smith Magdalene Stewart 💍 1884/3339	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 21	Pahautanui Pahautanui	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	84/3168		15 October 1884	Rev. John McNamara

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).