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 981

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
271	23 October 1885	Thomas Edward Bird Maria Egan	Thomas Edward Bird Maria Egan 💍 1885/2983	Bachelor Spinster	Cabman	30 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Residence of the Rev. C. L. Saith	85/3148		23 October 1885	Rev. C. L. Saith
272	27 October 1885	Joseph Hanery Annie Habberfield		Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	85/3131		27 October 1885	Rev. John Sale
273	28 October 1885	Richard Alleyn Edwards Mary Elizabeth King	Richard Alleyn Edwards Mary Elizabeth King 💍 1885/3026	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peter's Church	85/3164	Sarah Blanford, mother	28 October 1885	Archdeacon Stock
274	29 October 1885	John Joseph Wheeler Sarah Ann Sheil	John Joseph Wheeler Sarah Ann Sheil 💍 1885/2999	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/3140		29 October 1885	Rev. John McNamana
275	30 October 1885	William Thomas Gorin Elizabeth Jane Kirly	William Thomas Gorin Elizabeth Jane Kirby 💍 1885/3047	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker	23 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peter's Church	85/3165		30 October 1885	Archdeacon Stock
276	31 October 1885	John Adcock Amy Elizabeth Craig	John Adcock Amy Elizabeth Craig 💍 1885/2982	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 15	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of the Rev. C. L. Saith	85/3144	Charlotte Craig, mother	31 October 1885	Rev. C. L. Saith
277	2 November 1885	James Shearman Annie Perry	James Shearman Annie Perry 💍 1885/2984	Widower Widow	Silversmith	41 34	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	House of Mr. Garrett Saith	85/3149		2 November 1885	Rev. C. L. Saith
278	3 November 1885	Allan Skene Fanny Charlotte Jones	Allen Skene Fanny Charlotte Jones 💍 1885/2994	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mark's Church	85/3135		3 November 1885	Rev. R. Coffey
279	3 November 1885	John Kelly Ruth Tapp	John Kelly Ruth Tapp 💍 1885/3035	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	40 35	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 month	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/3177		3 November 1885	Mr. W. Wyatt, Registrar
280	4 November 1885	William Rodgers Sarah Burns	William Rodgers Sarah Burns 💍 1885/2976	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/3141		4 November 1885	Rev. John McNamana
281	6 November 1885	John Martin Grace Eugine	John Martin Grace Tugine 💍 1885/3037 John Martin Elizabeth Martin 💍 1885/230 John Martin Harriet Isabella Presling 💍 1885/531	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	48 47	Wellington Evans Bay	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/3178		6 November 1885	Mr. W. Wyatt, Registrar
282	6 November 1885	Thomas Good Annie Robinson	Thomas Cool Annie Robinson 💍 1885/3236 James Gasson Annie Robinson 💍 1885/218	Bachelor Widow	Steward	35 30	Christchurch Wellington	3 months 4 years	St. John's Church, Christchurch	85/3388		6 November 1885	Rev. S. E. Wright

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).