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 975

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
319	16 December 1885	Albert John Beiele Annie Ream Varden	Albert John Boielle Annie Ream Woodward 💍 1885/3025	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	20 25	Wellington Taranaki	9 months 1 month	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki	85/3154		16 December 1885	Rev. W. b. Oliver
320	16 December 1885	John Walls Jessie McGwan	John Walls Jessie McCowan 💍 1885/2986	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs Johnson, Tory Street	85/3133		16 December 1885	Rev. J. t. Pumfrey
321	16 December 1885	Charles Frederick Elizabeth Bessie Freshey	Charles Trevethick Elizabeth Frethey 💍 1886/514	Widower Spinster	Brush maker	31 29	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	House of Mr S. Freshey, Lower Hutt	85/3162		16 December 1885	Revd S. J. Garlick
322	16 December 1885	Oswald Bessemer Frances Schriber	Oswald Bissmer Frances Schriber 💍 1885/2978	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	22 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/3143		16 December 1885	Revd Julius Harman
323	17 December 1885	Robert Storie Susan Alice Prince	Robert Hosie Susan Alice Prince 💍 1885/3041	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	27 23	Wellington Wellington	12 months 4 years	Residence of Mr Bruce, Hopper Street	85/3159		17 December 1885	Revd Luke Scott
324	19 December 1885	Mariano Tella Mary Fured	Mariano Vella Mary Furse 💍 1886/465	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	30 18	Paramatta Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	86/328	No parents in Colony	19 December 1885	Mr S. Wyatt, Regr
325	19 December 1885	John Larnach Elizabeth Shackelay	John Larnach Elizabeth Thackeray 💍 1885/3008	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	85/3198		19 December 1885	Mr T. Wyatt, Regr
326	21 December 1885	Lewis Oakley Madeline Elizabeth Whitten	Lewis Oakley Madeline Elizabeth Mullan 💍 1885/3044	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 days	House of Mr George Brown, Arthur Street	85/3162		21 December 1885	Revd A. b. Blowes
327	21 December 1885	James William Henrichs Elizabeth Gooch	James William Henrich Elizabeth Gooch 💍 1886/466	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	22 19	Wellington Wellington	1 month 4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	86/329	No parents in Colony	21 December 1885	Mr S. Wyatt, Regr
328	21 December 1885	Edmund Hamitt Eliza Emily Williams	Edmund Marriott Eliza Emily Williams 💍 1885/3003	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	50 40	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	85/3193		21 December 1885	Mr T. Wyatt, Regr
329	21 December 1885	William Smith Elizabeth Tankard	William Smith Elizabeth Tankard 💍 1886/444	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	32 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Samuel Howell, Elizabeth Street	86/315		21 December 1885	Revd W. b. Oliver
330	21 December 1885	John William Whittaker Hannah Louisa Willson	John William Whittaker Hannah Louisa Wilton 💍 1885/3045	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Church of Christ, Dixon Street	85/3163		21 December 1885	Mr J. F. Floyd, Captn

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).