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 1001

District of Wellington 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
61	9 March 1885	Frederick Lawson Mary Turner	Frederick Lawson Mary Turner 💍 1885/346	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 21	Wellington Wellington	years 7 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/343		9 March 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Registrar
62	9 March 1885	Alexander Callan Sarah Ann Francis	Alexander Callan Sarah Anne Francis 💍 1885/378	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	St. Marks Church	85/352		9 March 1885	Revd. Richard Coffey, Curate
63	9 March 1885	Ruphael Levy, known as Ralph Levy Miriam Levy	Ralf Levvi Miriam Levy 💍 1885/1402	Divorced Spinster	Insurance Agent	40 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Residence of R. B. Levy, Lambton Quay	85/1257		9 March 1885	Revd. H. Van Staveren, Hebrew
64	10 March 1885	Charles Brotherton Annie Christina Lection	Charles Crowther Annie Christina Wilson 💍 1885/404	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Chas. Prince, Hill Street	85/310		10 March 1885	Revd. P. N. Humber, Primitive
65	11 March 1885	Edward Alexander Sanderson Alice Nucer Alexander	Edward Alexander Sanderson Alice Ulett Alexander 💍 1885/605	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Chas. Chain, Ghuznee Terrace	85/319		11 March 1885	Revd. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian
66	12 March 1885	Josiah Bear Elizabeth Seek	Josiah Beer Elizabeth Silk 💍 1885/423	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Chas. Bear, Taranaki Street	85/373	Henry Seek, father	12 March 1885	Revd. A. Douthwaite, Iron.
67	12 March 1885	Oliver Death Selina Jones	Oliver Death Selina Jones 💍 1885/347	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Pahautanui Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/344		12 March 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Registrar
68	12 March 1885	Robert Vernon Smith Martha Bosson	Robert Vernon Smith Martha Boxen 💍 1885/1225	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	44 22	Wellington Wellington	1 month 12 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	85/1285		12 March 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Registrar
69	13 March 1885	Arthur Henry Stock Mary Ann Gleeson	Arthur Henry Stock Mary Ann Gleeson 💍 1885/364	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	27 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	85/362	Honora Mary Stock, mother	13 March 1885	Ven. Archdeacon Stock, Curate
70	14 March 1885	Walter Weatherall Farmer Jennet Duncan	Walter Weatheral Farmer Janet Duncan 💍 1885/1411	Widower Widow	Engineer	40 47	Wellington Wellington	11 days 7 weeks	House of Ind Duncan, Brougham Street	85/1243		14 March 1885	Revd. James Paterson, Presbyterian
71	16 March 1885	Louis Richmond Baskin Emily Thompson	Louis Richmond Batkin Emily Thompson 💍 1885/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Telephone Lineman	29 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Res. J. Paterson, Home Terrace	85/1244		16 March 1885	Revd. James Paterson, Presbyterian
72	16 March 1885	Alfred Robert Heech Matilda Forth	Alfred Robert Much Matilda Firth 💍 1885/379	Widower Widow	Clerk	40 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	85/353		16 March 1885	Revd. Richard Coffey, Curate

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).