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 265

District of Quarter ending

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

6 January 1885

John Grant
Margaret Fraser

John Grant
Margaret Fraser
💍 1885/849

Bachelor
Spinster

Maltster
Domestic Duties

47
27

Sawyers Bay
Sawyers Bay

3 days
3 days

House of David Spalding, Sawyers Bay

85/804

6 January 1885

Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grant	Margaret Fraser
	💍 1885/849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maltster	Domestic Duties
Age	47	27
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay	Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of David Spalding, Sawyers Bay
Folio	85/804
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Grant, Congregational

9 January 1885

Herbert John Hullar
Amy Mary Hayford

Herbert John Pullar
Amy Mary Playford
💍 1885/846

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
27

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

18 months
18 months

Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

85/804

9 January 1885

Rev. F. C. Platte, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert John Hullar	Amy Mary Hayford
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert John Pullar	Amy Mary Playford
	💍 1885/846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	85/804
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Platte, Church of England

13 January 1885

Thomas Bushell
Mary Hogan

Thomas Bushell
Mary Hogan
💍 1885/848

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Servant

26
22

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

5 days
5 days

Catholic Church

85/805

13 January 1885

Rev. H. J. Newport, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bushell	Mary Hogan
	💍 1885/848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Servant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	85/805
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Newport, Roman Catholic

21 January 1885

Charles Robert Smith
Mary Ann Freeman

Charles Robert Smith
Mary Ann Yeoman
💍 1885/844

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic Duties

22
20

Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers
Coombe Hill, Port Chalmers

14 years
20 years

House of Jas. Freeman

85/802

James Freeman, Father

21 January 1885

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robert Smith	Mary Ann Freeman
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Robert Smith	Mary Ann Yeoman
	💍 1885/844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Lower Harbour, Port Chalmers	Coombe Hill, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Jas. Freeman
Folio	85/802
Consent	James Freeman, Father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

10 February 1885

John George Edwin Keetley
Martha Kelly

John George Edwin Moody
Martha Kelley
💍 1885/845

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic Duties

29
22

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
2 years

House of Mr. Kelly

85/803

10 February 1885

Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	10 February 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Edwin Keetley	Martha Kelly
BDM Match (84%)	John George Edwin Moody	Martha Kelley
	💍 1885/845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Kelly
Folio	85/803
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley, Presbyterian

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).