Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 751

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 December 1885 Registrar W. S. Hunday

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

346

6 November 1885

Charles Samuel Gooding
Mary Marshall

Charles Samuel Gooding
Mary Marshall
💍 1885/3867

Batchelor
Spinster

Miner

25
22

Koranui Incline
Waimangaroa

14 months
5 years Healey Street

Private Residence of Reverend P.R. Munro, Henley Street, Westport

85/3298

16 November 1885

Reverend Patrick R. Munro, Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

No	346
Date of Notice	6 November 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Samuel Gooding	Mary Marshall
	💍 1885/3867
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Koranui Incline	Waimangaroa
Length of Residence	14 months	5 years Healey Street
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Reverend P.R. Munro, Henley Street, Westport
Folio	85/3298
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 November 1885
Officiating Minister	Reverend Patrick R. Munro, Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

347

19 November 1885

George William Brown
Auastana Dingwall

George William Brown
Anastasia Dingwell
💍 1885/3876

Batchelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

38
19

Westport
Westport

8 years Church at
6 months Westport

St. John's Church at Westport

85/3297

Eliza Thompson, formerly Dingwall, mother of minor Anastasia Dingwall, and the person whose consent is required by law.

19 November 1885

Rev. James E. Cullen Church of England

No	347
Date of Notice	19 November 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Brown	Auastana Dingwall
BDM Match (89%)	George William Brown	Anastasia Dingwell
	💍 1885/3876
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	8 years Church at	6 months Westport
Marriage Place	St. John's Church at Westport
Folio	85/3297
Consent	Eliza Thompson, formerly Dingwall, mother of minor Anastasia Dingwall, and the person whose consent is required by law.
Date of Certificate	19 November 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. James E. Cullen Church of England

348

27 November 1885

George William Brown
Auastana Dingwall

George William Brown
Anastasia Dingwell
💍 1885/3876

Batchelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

38
19

Westport
Westport

3 years Church at
6 months Westport

Presbyterian Church at Westport

85/3296

Consent previously given See recording entry 347 of 17 December 1885

27 November 1885

Rev. Patrick R. Munro, Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

No	348
Date of Notice	27 November 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Brown	Auastana Dingwall
BDM Match (89%)	George William Brown	Anastasia Dingwell
	💍 1885/3876
Condition	Batchelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	38	19
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 years Church at	6 months Westport
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Westport
Folio	85/3296
Consent	Consent previously given See recording entry 347 of 17 December 1885
Date of Certificate	27 November 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick R. Munro, Presbyterian Church of New Zealand

349

7 December 1885

Edward Quigley
Mary Burrow

Edward Quigley
Mary Burrow
💍 1885/3109

Bachelor
Spinster

Forwarding Agent

46
30

Westport
Westport

17 years Residence of
10 years R. Thomas Sales

Residence of Reverend Thomas Walshe, Westport

85/3304

7 December 1885

Rev. Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic Church

No	349
Date of Notice	7 December 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Quigley	Mary Burrow
	💍 1885/3109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Forwarding Agent
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	17 years Residence of	10 years R. Thomas Sales
Marriage Place	Residence of Reverend Thomas Walshe, Westport
Folio	85/3304
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Walshe, Roman Catholic Church

350

17 December 1885

George Smith
Mary Stevens

George Smith
Mary Stevens
💍 1885/3111

Bachelor
Spinster

Coalminer

24
21

Denniston
Denniston

5 months Registrar
18 months Office Westport

Registrar's Office, Westport, Buller

85/3306

17 December 1885

W. S. Munday, Registrar, Buller

No	350
Date of Notice	17 December 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Mary Stevens
	💍 1885/3111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coalminer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	5 months Registrar	18 months Office Westport
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Westport, Buller
Folio	85/3306
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1885
Officiating Minister	W. S. Munday, Registrar, Buller

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).