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 787

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
88	19 April 1884	Jacob Johannessen Oline Hanson		Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	31 40	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Oline Hanson, Haining Street	84/1164		19 April 1884	Rev. N. B. Redstone
89	21 April 1884	Robert Ready Ellen Mahony	Robert Ready Ellen Mahoney 💍 1884/2168	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	84/1171		21 April 1884	Rev. John McNamara
90	21 April 1884	William Semmex Annie Louisa Agnes	William Sunnex Annie Louisa Symes 💍 1884/2118	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 20	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1208	Mathew James Agnes, Father	21 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
91	21 April 1884	John Francis Diederich Mary Ann Catherine McNamara	John Francis Diederick Mary Anne Catherine McNamara 💍 1884/2177	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 18	Wellington Wellington	18 months years	St. Mary of the Angels	84/1195	John McNamara, Father	21 April 1884	Rev. P. Kerrigan
92	22 April 1884	Dominic Tolo Annie Wilson	Dominic Solo Annie Wilson 💍 1884/2125	Bachelor Widow	Miner	40 37	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1209		22 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
93	22 April 1884	Henry Goold Spackman Amy Coxall	Henry Goold Spackman Amy Coxall 💍 1884/980	Bachelor Spinster	Professor of Music	33 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Peter's Church	84/1235		22 April 1884	Venble Archdeacon Stock
94	23 April 1884	James Alexander McDonald Margaret Gertrude Hart	James Alexander McDonald Margaret Gertrude Hart 💍 1884/2127	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1211		23 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
95	23 April 1884	John Francis Ryan Florence Louisa Lucking	John Francis Ryan Florence Louisa Luckins 💍 1884/2126	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1210		23 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
96	25 April 1884	James Blyth Helen Campbell Christie	James Blyth Helen Campbell Christie 💍 1884/2122	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 19	Wellington Lower Hutt	5 days years	Mr. Vaughan's Residence	84/1229	John Christie, Father	25 April 1884	Rev. David D. Roger
97	25 April 1884	William Wilmshurst Keziah Mudgeway	William Wilmshurst Keziah Mudgway 💍 1884/2128	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 17	Johnsonville Porirua	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1212	Charles Mudgeway, Father	25 April 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy
98	26 April 1884	William Futt Mary Douglas	William Tutt Mary Douglas 💍 1884/2157	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	11 months 2 weeks	St. Mary's Cathedral	84/1170		26 April 1884	Rev. John McNamara
99	26 April 1884	James Reid Elizabeth Ann Greeks	James Reid Elizabeth Ann Greeks 💍 1884/2111	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	84/1219	No Parent or Guardian in the Colony	13 May 1884	A. M. Smith, Deputy

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).