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 1111

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1884

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

28 January 1884

Claude Trunch Corlett
Agnes Craig

Claude French Corlett
Agnes Craig
💍 1884/117

Widower
Spinster

Printer

46
34

Ponsonby
Auckland

11 years
3 years

Dwelling of Mr. Thos. Craig, Harding Street

84/134

28 January 1884

Rev. C. Carter

No	50
Date of Notice	28 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Trunch Corlett	Agnes Craig
BDM Match (95%)	Claude French Corlett	Agnes Craig
	💍 1884/117
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	46	34
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Thos. Craig, Harding Street
Folio	84/134
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Carter

28 January 1884

Frederick Jackman Mollard
Louisa Barnes

Frederic Jackman Mollard
Louisa Barnes
💍 1884/108

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

21
27

Newton
Newton

15 months
9 months

St. John's Church

84/141

28 January 1884

Rev. L. G. Carr

No	51
Date of Notice	28 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Jackman Mollard	Louisa Barnes
BDM Match (98%)	Frederic Jackman Mollard	Louisa Barnes
	💍 1884/108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	21	27
Dwelling Place	Newton	Newton
Length of Residence	15 months	9 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	84/141
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. G. Carr

28 January 1884

Thomas Punter
Clara Marshall

Thomas Prentis
Clara Marshall
💍 1884/81

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

25
22

Auckland
Parnell

15 months
10 years

Dwelling of Mr. W. Marshall, Manukau Rd.

84/95

28 January 1884

Rev. R. J. Macnicol

No	52
Date of Notice	28 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Punter	Clara Marshall
BDM Match (86%)	Thomas Prentis	Clara Marshall
	💍 1884/81
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	15 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. Marshall, Manukau Rd.
Folio	84/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Macnicol

30 January 1884

Christopher Smith
Catherine Cahill

Christopher Smith
Catherine Cahill
💍 1884/92

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

St. Patrick's Church

84/84

30 January 1884

Rev. W. Macdonald

No	53
Date of Notice	30 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Smith	Catherine Cahill
	💍 1884/92
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	84/84
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Macdonald

30 January 1884

Frederick Alfred Jones
Mary Ellen Petley

Frederick Alfred Jones
Mary Ellen Petley
💍 1884/202

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

31
24

Mercury Bay
Ponsonby

1 year
24 years

All Saints Church

84/111

30 January 1884

Rev. W. Calder

No	54
Date of Notice	30 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alfred Jones	Mary Ellen Petley
	💍 1884/202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Mercury Bay	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	1 year	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	84/111
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder

31 January 1884

Charles Johnson
Agnes Williamson

Charles Johnson
Agnes Williamson
💍 1884/160

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
2 years

St. Paul's Church

84/153

31 January 1884

Rev. C. M. Nelson

No	55
Date of Notice	31 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Johnson	Agnes Williamson
	💍 1884/160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	84/153
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson

31 January 1884

Malcolm John McDonald
Beatrice Phoebe Dando

Malcolm John McDonald
Beatrice Phoebe Daudo
💍 1884/101

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
20

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
6 months

Congregational Church

84/141

Sydney Dando, Guardian

31 January 1884

Rev. H. W. Miller

No	56
Date of Notice	31 January 1884
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm John McDonald	Beatrice Phoebe Dando
BDM Match (98%)	Malcolm John McDonald	Beatrice Phoebe Daudo
	💍 1884/101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	84/141
Consent	Sydney Dando, Guardian
Date of Certificate	31 January 1884
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Miller

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).