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 1093

District of Auckland Quarter ending 20 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
170	8 April 1884	William Henry Hamblin Harriet Gisby	William Henry Hamblin Harriett Gisby 💍 1884/3683	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 22	Auckland Auckland	6 months	Wesleyan Church, Hyis Pilt Dr.	84/1918		8 April 1884	Revd a Reid
171	9 April 1884	Noble Alexander Johnston Margaret Mary Sinton	Noble Alexander Johnston Margaret Mary Sinton 💍 1884/2332	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	27 18	River head Hobsonville	5 [illegible] 18 [illegible]	Dwelling of Mr. James Sinton	84/886	mother	9 April 1884	Revd R. Sommerville, Presbyterian
172	9 April 1884	Eli Bleak Maggie Stevenson	Eli Cleal Maggie Stevenson 💍 1884/1939	Bachelor Spinster	Boot maker	22 21	Ponsonby Auckland	10 [illegible] 20 Collingwood St	Dwelling of Mr. Alex C. Davidson	84/895		9 April 1884	Revd R. F. Manniel, Wesleyan Presbyterian
173	9 April 1884	Jeremiah Hobbs Ann Maria Hodges	Jeremiah Nobbs Anna Maria Hodges 💍 1884/593	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	30 36	Auckland Parnell	6 [illegible] 4 Wakefield St	Dwelling of Mr. George Message	84/1913		9 April 1884	Revd J. Spurgeon, Baptist
174	10 April 1884	James Smith Margaret Brandbury	James Smith Margaret Bransbury 💍 1884/1980 John Smith Margaret Wade 💍 1884/2585 James Smith Alice Hart 💍 1884/1598 James Smith Mary Ann Lockwood 💍 1884/1921	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	56 44	River head River head	4 [illegible] 5 [illegible]	Office of Regr. of Marriages	84/986		10 April 1884	J. Cowan Lord, Regr.
175	10 April 1884	Louis William Holmes Marian Chalmers Aitken	Louis William Holmes Marian Chalmers Aitkin 💍 1884/2021	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	26 23	Auckland Ponsonby	3 [illegible] 2 days Shelly Beach	Dwelling of Mr. Henry Daley	84/1022		10 April 1884	Revd H. Eccles, Disciple of Christ
176	10 April 1884	Henry Aspden Anna Harrison	Henry Aspden Anna Harrison 💍 1884/762	Widower Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Manukau Auckland	19 years 4 [illegible]	Dwelling of James Waring	84/3457		10 April 1884	Revd J. Robertson, Congl. Indepdt.

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).