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 769

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
286	15 December 1884	Eawin Dunn Annie Winnefred McCarthy	Edwin Dunn Annie Winnifred McCarthy 💍 1884/3690	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	24 23	Johnsonville Wellington	years 7 months	House of Mrs Green, Boulcott Street	84/13139		15 December 1884	Mr Samuel Costall
287	15 December 1884	Gustaf Wilhelm Glander Mary Gibson	Gustaf Wilhelm Olander Mary Gibson 💍 1884/1591	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	36 27	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	House of Mr Peters, Karori Square	84/13091		15 December 1884	Revd James Paterson
288	15 December 1884	Thomas William John Brand Bowden Kate Florence Thurkell	Thomas William John Crang Bowden Kate Florence Thirkell 💍 1884/3290	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Thurkell, Kent Terrace	84/13104		15 December 1884	Revd H. B. Rickstone
289	15 December 1884	John Charles Henry Moffitt Louisa Sylvia Evelyn Wright	John Charles Henry Moffitt Louisa Sylva Evelyn Wright 💍 1884/1592	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Wright, Hopper Street	84/13092	Sydney Evelyn Wright, Father	15 December 1884	Revd James Paterson
290	17 December 1884	Joseph Prime Brazier Helen Constance Hankins	Joseph Prime Maxurk Helen Constance Hunter 💍 1884/3295	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	37 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	84/13109		17 December 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
291	19 December 1884	John Alexander Fuller Alice Julia Lewis	John Alexander Fuller Alice Julia Lewes 💍 1885/367	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 20	Wellington Wellington	18 months years	St Marks Church	85/1364	No relation in Colony	2 January 1885	Revd Richard Coffey
292	20 December 1884	Thomas Franklin Boyes Sarah Ann King	Thomas Franklin Boyd Sarah Ann King 💍 1884/3625	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 25	Johnsonville Taita	10 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/13154		20 December 1884	Mr S. Wyatt
293	22 December 1884	James Smith Alice Hart	James Smith Alice Hart 💍 1884/1598	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 8 days	House of Mr J. G. Brown, Willis Street	84/13097		22 December 1884	Revd W. G. Oliver
294	22 December 1884	John Boardman Elizabeth Turner	John Boardman Elizabeth Turner 💍 1885/358	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	30 25	Wellington Wellington	14 days 1 Week	Church	85/1356		22 December 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
295	22 December 1884	Herbert Reeve Eliza Jane Crawford	Herbert Reeve Eliza Jane Crawford 💍 1884/3627	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 21	Wellington Wellington	4 Weeks years	Registrars Office	84/13135		22 December 1884	Mr S. Wyatt
296	24 December 1884	James Treanor Annie Mary Frances Walpole Naughton	James Treanor Annie Mary Francis Walpole Naughton 💍 1884/3314	Bachelor Spinster	Sergeant A. G. Force	32 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St Mary's Church	84/13193		24 December 1884	Revd P. Kerrigan
297	27 December 1884	Samuel Barnes Ellen Stacey	Samuel Barnes Ellen Macey 💍 1884/3628	Widower Widow	Contractor	36 41	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	84/13136		27 December 1884	Mr S. Wyatt

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).