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 772

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
250	31 October 1884	John Shearman Maria Reilican	John Shearman Maria Redican 💍 1884/3336	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	28 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/3188		31 October 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
251	1 November 1884	Frederick Beaumont Mary Bain Lamont McCakindale	Frederick Beaumont Mary Bain Lamont McCorkindale 💍 1884/3785	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Beaumont, Courtenay Place	84/3102		1 November 1884	Rev. H. B. Readstone
252	3 November 1884	Joseph Tremain Elizabeth Parker	Joseph Tremain Elizabeth Parker 💍 1884/3786	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	26 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Bridgeman, King Street	84/3103		3 November 1884	Rev. H. B. Readstone
253	3 November 1884	James Sainsbury Goodwin Emily Mitchele	James Sainsbury Goodwin Emily Michell 💍 1884/3689	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger	25 21	Wellington Karori	years years	The Manse, Wellington Terrace	84/3117		3 November 1884	Rev. C. S. Ogg
254	4 November 1884	John Harvey Elizabeth Lawton	John Harvey Elizabeth Lawton 💍 1884/1669	Widower Widow	Labour	44 44	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Lawton, Martin Square	84/3668		4 November 1884	Rev. A. J. Smith
255	4 November 1884	James Thomas Henry John William Day Elizabeth Jane Hill	James Thomas Henry John William Day Elizabeth Jane Hill 💍 1884/3636	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	33 39	Wellington Wellington	6 months 8 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/3123		4 November 1884	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
256	5 November 1884	William Cliffe Annie Roberts	William Cliffe Annie Roberts 💍 1884/3288 William Vosper Grace Roberts 💍 1884/203	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker	23 22	Wellington Wellington	4 months 3 days	House of Mr. Charlton, Water Street	84/3114		5 November 1884	Rev. J. T. Hinton
257	8 November 1884	Claude Edward Ryland Florence Mary Medley	Claude Edward Ryland Florence Mary Medley 💍 1884/3616	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/3125		8 November 1884	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
258	11 November 1884	Christopher Charles Miles Annette Blake Good	Christopher Charles Miles Annette Blake Good 💍 1884/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Secretary	34 24	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Peters Church, Karori on 4th	84/3104		11 November 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
259	11 November 1884	James Vernon Mary Barr	James Vernon Mary Barr 💍 1884/3637	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	20 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/3124	Thomas Vernon, Father of Groom; William Barr, Father of Bride	11 November 1884	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
260	14 November 1884	George Francis Hopkins Emily Sievers	George Francis Hopkins Emily Sievers 💍 1884/3345	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	27 20	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Mary's Cathedral	84/3140		14 November 1884	Rev. John McNamara
261	14 November 1884	Daniel George Riddiford Nina Olive Kelham	Daniel George Riddiford Nina Olive Kelhatu 💍 1884/1713	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	25 24	Hutt Hutt	5 days years	St. James's Church, Hutt	84/3696		14 November 1884	Rev. Thos. Fancourt

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).