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 744

District of Masterton 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
18	6 November 1884	Richard Collins McKenzie Catherine Lee	Richard Collins McKenzie Catherine Lee 💍 1884/3369	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School teacher	28 24	Masterton Masterton	2 years 6 Months	Dwelling house of Mr George Duncan Masterton	84/3148		6 November 1884	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian
19	11 November 1884	Frans Henri Johanssen Sarah Ann Thorn	Franz Henri Johansson Sarah Ann Thorn 💍 1884/3348	Bachelor Spinster	Labour Servant	36 26	Te Ore Ore Masterton	12 Months 4 years	Church of England, Masterton	84/3157		11 November 1884	Revd W E Paige, Church of England
20	25 November 1884	Edward Smith Elizabeth Larsen	Edward Smith Elizabeth Larsen 💍 1884/3346	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	24 22	Masterton Masterton	2 years 12 Months	Church, Mauriceville	84/3149		25 November 1884	Revd M Christopher, Wesleyan
21	26 November 1884	George Edward Lackaday Susan Blanche Morris	George Elijah Cooksley Susan Blanche Morris 💍 1884/3515	Widower Spinster	Labour	25 19	Masterton Masterton	12 Months 17 years	House of Mr George Morris	84/3560	George Morris, Father	26 November 1884	Revd L M Isitt, Wesleyan
22	27 November 1884	William Reid Mary Ann Wickens	William Reid Mary Ann Wickens 💍 1884/3618	Widower Domestic Servant	Gardener Domestic Servant	43 30	Masterton Wellington	10 years 6 weeks	Office of Registrar, Wellington	84/3127		27 November 1884	Registrar of B.D. & M. Wellington
23	6 December 1884	David Anderson Ada Edith Hooker	David Anderson Ada Edith Hooker 💍 1884/3349	Bachelor Spinster	Farrier	28 18	Taneru Taneru	6 years 8 years	Residence of Mr John Taplin	84/3152	Robert Hooker, Father	6 December 1884	Revd W E Paige, Church of England
24	20 December 1884	James Lyall Mary Carlin	James Jgve Mary Caslin 💍 1884/3347 James Barr Mary Hastings 💍 1884/3634 James Gray Mary Shannon 💍 1884/3749	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	27 24	Pahiatua Pahiatua	3 years 12 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	84/3150		20 December 1884	Revd Patrick Tracey, Roman Catholic
25	23 December 1884	Duncan McLachlan Elizabeth du Temple	Duncan McLachlan Elizabeth du Temple 💍 1884/3526	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	26 24	Masterton Masterton	15 years 3 days	Residence of Mrs Mahora Road, Tom Hill, Masterton	84/3561		23 December 1884	Revd L M Isitt, Wesleyan
26	29 December 1884	Charles Alexander Smith Lucy Doughty	Charles Alexander Smith Lucy Doughty 💍 1885/417	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	25 22	Wellington Masterton	5 weeks 7 years	House of Mr John Doughty, Masterton	85/391		29 December 1884	Revd L M Isitt, Wesleyan
27	30 December 1884	Arthur Edward Tonks Maria Greathead	Arthur Edward Tonks Maria Greathead 💍 1885/418	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	21 18	Masterton Masterton	18 months 18 years	Residence of Mrs Mary Greathead	85/392	Mary Greathead, Mother	30 December 1884	Revd L M Isitt, Wesleyan

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).