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 995

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
125	13 May 1885	John Bonarage Ada Bond	John Bonasage Ada Bond 💍 1885/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 18	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Mary of the Angels	85/1224	Howard Bond, father	13 May 1885	Rev P. Kerrigan
126	15 May 1885	John Moran Elizabeth Kimmins	John Moran Elizabeth Kelmister 💍 1885/3821	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	25 36	Karori Karori	7 years 7 years	St Georges House, Sydney Street	85/1274		15 May 1885	Rev John Muir
127	16 May 1885	John Lennox Sarah Alexander	John Lennox Sarah Alexander 💍 1885/1308	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	19 23	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Marks, Brougham Street	85/1278	Christina Lennox, mother	16 May 1885	Rev J. H. Elliott
128	18 May 1885	George Gilling Ann Fuller	George Gilling Ada Fuller 💍 1885/1398	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	26 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 7 years	Mrs Fullers House, Barker Street	85/1284		18 May 1885	Rev W. C. Oliver
129	18 May 1885	Frederick Bryant Mary Ann Stevenson	Frederick Bryant Mary Ann Stevenson 💍 1885/1321	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Peters Church	85/1287		18 May 1885	W. H. Wyatt, Regr
130	18 May 1885	John Robinson Martha Lingard	Jem Robinson Martha Lingard 💍 1885/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman of Trams	29 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/1293		18 May 1885	W. H. Wyatt, Regr
131	18 May 1885	John Westland Marshall Emma Andres	John Westland Marshall Emma Andree 💍 1885/1226	Bachelor Widow	Vocalist	41 27	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/1294		18 May 1885	W. H. Wyatt, Regr
132	20 May 1885	Alfred Henry Cook Allan Fannie Rutter	Alfred Henry Cook Ada Fannie Rutter 💍 1885/1198	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	22 20	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Pauls Cathedral	85/1232	Stephen Rutter, father	20 May 1885	Rev John Still
133	20 May 1885	Arthur Hylton Brisco Jessie Mary Campbell	Arthur Hylton Brisco Jessie Mary Campbell 💍 1885/1196	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	37 24	Wellington Wellington	4 days 7 years	St Pauls Cathedral	85/1231		20 May 1885	Rev John Still
134	20 May 1885	Alfred Devine Mary Jane Morgan	Alfred Devene Mary Jane Morgan 💍 1885/1299	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	21 16	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Marks Church	85/1260	Mary Jane Morgan, mother	20 May 1885	Rev R. Coffey
135	23 May 1885	Silas Harlen Harriet Gregory	Silas Harlen Harriet Gregory 💍 1885/1227	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 16	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	Registrars Office	85/1295	John Gregory, father	23 May 1885	W. H. Wyatt, Regr
136	23 May 1885	John Whiteley King Esther Barham	John Whitely King Esther Barham 💍 1885/1404	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	26 23	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St Marks Church	85/1259		23 May 1885	Rev R. Coffey

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).