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 979

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
295	18 November 1885	Isaac Garwood Clark Rose Sylon	Isaac Garwood Clark Rosey Sylva 💍 1885/3004	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	85/3194		18 November 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr
296	19 November 1885	Francis Joseph Buck Margaret Jane Kean	Francis Joseph Buck Margaret Jenkins 💍 1885/2989	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	23 25	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	House of Mr Buck, Tory Street	85/3153		19 November 1885	Rev. W. L. Chirk M.A.
297	19 November 1885	John McCulloch Susan Mabel Ranson	John McCulloch Susanna Mabel Ranson 💍 1885/3030	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Upper Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr Ranson, Lower Hutt	85/3110		19 November 1885	Rev. E. G. Redger
298	19 November 1885	Albert William Collett Henrietta Gover	Albert William Collett Henrietta Govin 💍 1885/3184	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	25 25	Petone Lower Hutt	years years	St James Church, Lower Hutt	85/3260		19 November 1885	Rev. E. S. Brand
299	21 November 1885	James Leonard Martha Knigge	James Leonard Martha Knigge 💍 1885/3000	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	85/3182	Charles Hennan Knigge, Father	21 November 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr
300	25 November 1885	James McGunn Laura Annie Jackson	James McGinn Laura Annie Jackson 💍 1885/3018	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 21	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars office Wellington	85/3184		25 November 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr
301	28 November 1885	William George Emily Sorcombe	William George Emily Sercombe 💍 1885/3019	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	37 24	Wellington Wellington	10 months 10 months	Registrars office Wellington	85/3185		28 November 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr
302	30 November 1885	William King Jane Bennett	William King Jane Bennett 💍 1885/3020	Widower Widow	Mariner	55 49	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars office Wellington	85/3186		30 November 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr
303	1 December 1885	John Hunt Henrietta Chamber	John Hunt Henrietta Chambers 💍 1885/3851	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 20	Wellington Wellington	8 months years	St Mary of the Angels	85/3158		1 December 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan P.P.
304	1 December 1885	William Daniel Catherine Harriott	William Daniel Marriott Catherine Harbot 💍 1885/2990 William Whyte Catherine Carter 💍 1885/791 William Holmes Catherine Walke 💍 1885/3429	Bachelor Spinster	Bookmaker	25 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Boyd, Allen Street	85/3104		1 December 1885	Rev. L. M. Scott
305	1 December 1885	John James Tryan Catherine Louisa Boyd	John James Bryan Catherine Louisa Boyle 💍 1885/2992	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	21 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	House of Mr Davis, Cambridge Terrace	85/3156		1 December 1885	Rev. L. M. Scott
306	1 December 1885	Walter John Scanlands Alice Tibbs	Walter John Edmonds Alice Stibbs 💍 1885/3021	Bachelor Widow	Cab Proprietor	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	85/3184		1 December 1885	W. T. Wyatt Regr

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).