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 777

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
191	14 August 1884	George Jones Elizabeth Ann Hay	George Jones Elizabeth Ann May 💍 1884/612 George Jones Jane Gray 💍 1884/971 George Jones Alice Lock 💍 1884/2023	Widower Spinster	Saddler	39 28	Pahautanui Wellington	years 8 months	Registrars office Wellington	84/2170		14 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
192	14 August 1884	Alexander Boyd Lucy Jane Simons	Alexander Boyd Lucy Jane Simins 💍 1884/1266	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 6 Weeks	St Marks Church	84/2141		14 August 1884	Revd Richard Coffey
193	18 August 1884	Edward Llewellyn Jones Harriet Mary Bosher	Edward Llewellyn Jones Harriett Mary Bosher 💍 1884/613	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 18	Wellington Wellington	8 months years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2173	Thomas Bosher Father	18 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
194	20 August 1884	William Asher Smith Charlotte Macfarlane	William Asher Smith Charlotte Macfarlane 💍 1884/614	Bachelor Widow	Cook	23 27	Wellington Wellington	8 months years	Registrars office Wellington	84/2174		20 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
195	21 August 1884	Charles Gustaf Johnson Ellen Maria Lydgate Baxter		Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	31 20	Wellington Wellington	years 8 months	Registrars office Wellington		No parent in Colony
196	25 August 1884	George Anderson Elizabeth Scott	George Anderson Elizabeth Scott 💍 1884/615 Hector Roulston Elizabeth Scott 💍 1884/1908	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	31 30	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 Week	Registrars office Wellington	84/2175		25 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
197	25 August 1884	Charles Wellington Caroline Linyard	Charles Wilmshurst Caroline Linyard 💍 1884/2676	Widower Spinster	Tanner	30 29	Johnsonville Johnsonville	years 1 year	Primitive Methodist Church Webb Street	84/2155		25 August 1884	Revd A. J. Smith
198	26 August 1884	Alexander Howie Frances Caroline Jerome	Alexander Monro Frances Caroline Severne 💍 1884/617	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	38 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 2 months	Registrars office Wellington	84/2176		26 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
199	28 August 1884	Thomas Le Ghie Mary Catherine Thomas	Thomas McGhie Mary Catherine Thomas 💍 1884/618	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 26	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	84/2177		28 August 1884	W. T. Wyatt Deputy
200	1 September 1884	Walter Edward Macon Margaret Jane Campbell	Walter Edward Hacon Margaret Jane Campbell 💍 1884/1233	Bachelor Spinster	Mercantile Superintendent	33 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Pauls Cathedral	84/2193		1 September 1884	Revd R. J. Thorpe
201	1 September 1884	Frederick Rouse Harriet Mahalah	Frederick Rouse Harriet Matilda Thorby 💍 1884/1234	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	40 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Pauls Cathedral	84/2194		1 September 1884	Revd R. J. Thorpe
202	2 September 1884	Patrick O'Farrell Ellen Gallagher	Patrick O'Farrell Ellen Gallagher 💍 1884/2786	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	33 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marys Cathedral	84/2323		2 September 1884	Revd Father 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).