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 475

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 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
429	9 October 1885	Robert Armstrong Minnie Aiken	Robert Armstrong Minnie Aiken 💍 1885/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Milliner	29 23	Hampstead Ashburton	4 months 4 months	Registrars Office	85/3473		9 October 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
430	12 October 1885	Joseph Harding Olive Barker	Joseph Harding Alice Barker 💍 1885/3294	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	33 30	Hinds Winslow	3 years 5 months	Registrars Office	85/3474		12 October 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
431	14 October 1885	John Jones Emily Laura Bruce	John Jones Emily Laura Bruce 💍 1885/3358	Bachelor Spinster	Bankers Accountant	32 29	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 4 years	St. Stephen's Church	85/3483		14 October 1885	Revd. E. A. Scott, Church of England
432	2 November 1885	John Bray Harriett Boulton	John Bray Harriet Boulton 💍 1885/3302	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	23 19	Mayfield Alford Forest	18 months 18 months	Private dwellinghouse of Richard Boulton	85/3481	Richard Boulton, father	6 November 1885	Revd. David McNeill, Presbyterian
433	16 November 1885	Charles Start Elizabeth McNeill	Charles Hart Elizabeth McNeil 💍 1885/3303	Bachelor Widow	Draper	32 23	Ashburton Alford Forest	2 years 3 years	Private dwellinghouse of Andrew McFarlane	85/3482		16 November 1885	Revd. David McNeill, Presbyterian
434	20 November 1885	David Turnbull Charlotte Robb	David Turnbull Charlotte Lobb 💍 1885/3295	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	21 18	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 3 days	Registrars Office	85/3475	James Robb, father	20 November 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
435	23 November 1885	Adam Burges Grace Keir	Adam Burges Grace Keir 💍 1885/3300	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	29 27	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 2 months	Private dwellinghouse of James Keir	85/3479		24 November 1885	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
436	27 November 1885	William Palmer Jane Welsh	William Palmer Jane Welsh 💍 1885/3296	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 16	Ballykilbeg Farm, Ashburton Ballykilbeg Farm, Ashburton	4 years 14 years	Registrars Office	85/3476	Nicholas Welsh, father	27 November 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
437	30 November 1885	Merchant Charles Octavius Digby Eliza Ward	Merchant Charles Octavius Digby Eliza Ward 💍 1885/3722	Bachelor Spinster	Brewery Proprietor Dressmaker	32 22	Ashburton Ashburton	12 years 4 years	Private dwellinghouse of Joseph Ward Ashburton	85/3755		30 November 1885	Revd. James Hill, 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 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).