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 459

District of Waimate 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
12	11 April 1885	Samuel Gould Maria Taylor	Samuel Gould Nelly Maria Tayler 💍 1885/1620	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	29 25	Guardine Winchester	13 years 13 years	Residence of G. S. Thomas	85/1672		11 April 1885	Wesleyan Minister
13	13 April 1885	Jeremiah Moynehan Margaret Tangney		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 24	Temuka Temuka	9 years 11 years	R. C. Chapel	85/1664	Father Samuel	13 April 1885	R. C.
14	21 April 1885	George Reder Rattey Helen Seder	George Frederick Prattley Helen Elder 💍 1885/3765	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 21	Temuka Temuka	3 years 3 years	St Saviours Church Temuka	85/1669		21 April 1885	Thos. A. Hamilton
15	2 May 1885	John Lumisden McColl Lucy Smith Dypon	John Livingstone McColl Lucy Finetta Dyson 💍 1885/1619	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Manager	31 19	Temuka Temuka	19 years 19 years	St Saviours Church Temuka	85/1671	Lucy Byford (father)	2 May 1885	Thos. A. Hamilton
16	4 May 1885	James McGuinn Hannah Mary Christman	James McQuinn Hannah Mary Christina Peterson 💍 1885/1617	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 18	Oari Oari	2 months 4 years	St Saviours Church Temuka	85/1670	Mary Peterson (mother)	4 May 1885	Thos. A. Hamilton
17	14 May 1885	Edward Alfred Hornibrook Elizabeth Emily Hutt	Edward Alexander Hornbrook Elizabeth Emily Hutt 💍 1885/1621	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Temuka Temuka	4 years 4 years	Residence of G. F. Thomas	85/1673		14 May 1885	Wesleyan Minister
18	26 May 1885	Patrick Kyne Norah Golen	Patrick Kyne Norah Folen 💍 1885/1613	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 25	Temuka Temuka	16 years 6 years	R. C. Chapel	85/1665	Father Samuel	26 May 1885	R. C.
19	6 June 1885	John Anderson Adelaide Dryburgh	John Anderson Adelaide Mary Neilie Dryburgh 💍 1885/1614	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 22	Traiwhi Flat Woodville	5 years 2 days	Residence of J. Johnson	85/1666	John Anderson (father)	6 June 1885	J. Machirial
20	9 June 1885	Charles Henry Reid Isabella Marshall	Charles Henry Reid Isabella Marshall 💍 1885/1615	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 16	Temuka Temuka	8 years 16 years	Residence of J. Marshall	85/1667	Jas. Marshall (father)	9 June 1885	J. Machirial
21	19 June 1885	John William Melvin Annie Jane Smith	John William Velvin Annie Jane Smith 💍 1885/1616 John William Steed Clara Jane Smith 💍 1886/538 John William Honeyselt Annie Smith 💍 1885/2303	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 22	Temuka Temuka	18 years 18 years	Residence of J. Machirial	85/1668		19 June 1885	J. Machirial

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).