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 871

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1885

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
9	19 January 1885	Frederick Miller Thompson Mary Theresa Kennedy	Frederick William Thompson Mary Theresa Kennedy 💍 1885/440	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	27 24	Napier Napier	3 days 4 years	St Johns Church	85/447		19 January 1885	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
10	22 January 1885	William Walter Scott Hales Elizabeth Fisher	William W S Hales Elizabeth Fisher 💍 1885/526	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 21	Napier Napier	3 days 13 years	St Marys Chapel	85/440		22 January 1885	Rev. F. Grogan, Roman Catholic
11	22 January 1885	Wiremu Te Whalakara Te Paea Te Apakara	Wiremu Te Whatakarore Te Paea Te Apatari 💍 1885/523	Bachelor Spinster	Native	44 24	Waimarama Napier	1 year 3 days	Registrars office	85/434	Native	22 January 1885	Registrar
12	24 January 1885	Harold Chambers Sarah Ann Chambers	Harold Chambers Sarah Ann Chambers 💍 1885/520	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 27	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	St Augustines Church	85/484		24 January 1885	Rev. F. Parkinson, English Church
13	24 January 1885	James David Key Agnes Cameron	James David They Agnes Cameron 💍 1885/527	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	25 21	Napier Napier	10 years 1 year	Residence of Mr Burton	85/423		24 January 1885	Rev. F. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
14	6 February 1885	Robert Mellis Ellen Mansfield	Robert Willis Ellen Mansfield 💍 1885/533	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Driver	28 26	Napier Napier	28 years 7 years	Presbyterian Manse	85/424		6 February 1885	Rev. F. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
15	14 February 1885	John Stewart Harrison Emily Maney	John Stewart Morrison Emily Maney 💍 1885/521	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	26 21	Napier Meanee	10 years 21 years	The Mission Meanee	85/435		14 February 1885	Rev. F. Reignier, Roman Catholic
16	17 February 1885	John Twersley Ellen Murphy	John Sweeny Ellen Murphy 💍 1885/528	Widower Spinster	Shepherd	37 30	Clive Napier	8 months 2 years	St Marys Chapel	85/441		17 February 1885	Rev. F. Kickham, Roman Catholic
17	17 February 1885	Harald Bay Annie West nee Prewett	Harold Bay Annie West 💍 1885/538	Bachelor Widow	Waiter	27 27	Napier Napier	8 months 3 months	St Augustines Church	85/429		17 February 1885	Rev. F. Parkinson, English Church

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).