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 1003

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
37	9 February 1885	George Walker Alice Manson	George Walker Alice Marion Maud Hamlin 💍 1885/334 George Walker Helena Jane Porter 💍 1885/1910	Bachelor Spinster	Survey Cadet	22 23	Wellington Wellington	12 days 2 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/332		9 February 1885	Mr. E. Wyatt, Regr
38	9 February 1885	James McKenzie Nellie Syme	James McKenzie Millar Nellie Syme 💍 1885/1410	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Andrew's Church	85/1242	Catherine Syme, mother	9 February 1885	Rev. J. Paterson, Pres.
39	10 February 1885	John Marshall Louisa Kate Jones	John Marshall Louisa Kate Jones 💍 1885/377	Bachelor Spinster	Signal Man	27 20	Wellington Wellington	4 months	St. Mark's Church	85/1557		10 February 1885	Rev. R. Coffey, C of E
40	11 February 1885	John Farrell Annie Dalton	John Farrelly Annie Dalton 💍 1885/601	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Lower Hutt Wellington	4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/315		11 February 1885	Rev. P. G. Hurley, R.C.
41	11 February 1885	Richard Henry Edwards Mary Francis Temper	Richard Henry Edward Mary Francis 💍 1885/811	Widower Spinster	Builder	47 30	Wellington Wellington	4 years	House of Mr. Canada Green, Majoribanks Street	85/534		11 February 1885	Rev. W. H. West, Congl.
42	12 February 1885	Francis James Brogan Anna Sleework	Francis James Brogan Annie Elsie Mork 💍 1885/602	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/316	Sofie Jamson, mother	12 February 1885	Rev. P. G. Hurley, R.C.
43	12 February 1885	Albert Alfred Scott Emma Georgina Smith	Albert Alfred Scott Emma Georgina Smith 💍 1885/363	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	30 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Peter's Church	85/361		12 February 1885	Ven. Archdeacon Stock, C of E
44	16 February 1885	William Churchward Mary Conder	William Church Mary Conder 💍 1885/422	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	21 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	House of Mr. Calder, Newtown	85/372	Joseph Conder, father	16 February 1885	Rev. A. J. Smith, Pres.
45	17 February 1885	Emil Blaauw Betsey Fowler	Emil Blaauw Betsey Towler 💍 1885/336	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	23 24	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/334		17 February 1885	Mr. E. Wyatt, Regr.
46	19 February 1885	John Simpson Elizabeth Ann Tangham	John Simpson Elizabeth Anne Vaughan 💍 1885/603 Alfred Simpson Elizabeth Ann Shaw 💍 1885/2340	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	34 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 month	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/319		19 February 1885	Rev. P. G. Hurley, R.C.
47	19 February 1885	Thomas Harper Mary Grace Found	Thomas Harper Mary Grace Jane Josephine Malcairn Role 💍 1885/337	Widower Spinster	Butcher	37 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/333		19 February 1885	Mr. E. Wyatt, Regr.
48	19 February 1885	James Stewart Maggie Wright	James Stuart Maggie Wright 💍 1885/600	Bachelor Spinster	Ship Carpenter	33 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year	House of Mr. Erskine, Leeds Street	85/314		19 February 1885	Rev. John Muir, Pres.

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).