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 477

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 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
418	14 July 1885	Henry Leonard Annie Radford	Henry Leonard Annie Radford 💍 1885/2437	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 years 19 years	Barrhill Barrhill	7 years 8 years	Registrar's Office	85/2563	William Radford, Father	14 July 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
419	14 July 1885	Joseph Miller Elizabeth Nicholson	Joseph Miller Elizabeth Nicholson 💍 1885/2427	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Dressmaker	42 years 32 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 weeks	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	85/2565		14 July 1885	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
420	28 July 1885	George John Johnson Margaret Newton McClimont	George John Johnson Margaret Newton McClimont 💍 1885/9	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 years 19 years	Mount Somers Mount Somers	12 years 19 years	Private dwellinghouse of William McClimont, Mount Somers	85/2559	William McClimont, Father	29 July 1885	Revd. David McNeill, Presbyterian
421	3 August 1885	Thomas David Smith Sarah Johnson	Thomas David Smith Sarah Johnson 💍 1885/2436	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 years 26 years	Ashburton Tinwald	12 years 2 years	Registrar's Office	85/2562		6 August 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
422	5 August 1885	James Mackey Irvine Mary Ann Dennis	James MacKey Irvine Mary Ann Dennis 💍 1885/2435	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Nurse	27 years 26 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 2 years	Registrar's Office	85/2561		5 August 1885	J. Ward, Registrar
423	10 August 1885	Samuel Ferguson Elizabeth Olive Clifton	Samuel Ferguson Elizabeth Alice Clifton 💍 1885/2432	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 years 17 years	Alford Forest Alford Forest	7 years 11 years	Private dwellinghouse of Peter Follie at Alford Forest	85/2538	Maria Clifton, Mother	10 August 1885	Revd. David McNeill, Presbyterian
424	10 August 1885	Isaac Balek Seraphinah Phappere	Isaac Salek Seraphinah Shappere 💍 1885/2428	Bachelor Spinster	Pawnbroker	47 years 26 years	Ashburton Timaru	3 years 8 years	Private dwellinghouse of Isaac Balek at Ashburton	85/2564		10 August 1885	Revd. Isaac Zachariah, Hebrew Congregation
425	7 September 1885	James Henry Neville Ellen Susan Littlecott	James Henry Neville Ellen Susan Littlecott 💍 1885/2430	Bachelor Spinster	Lumper	26 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 5 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	85/2556		7 September 1885	Revd. E. A. Scott, Church of England
426	19 September 1885	John Monson Julia Collin	John Moison Julia Collin 💍 1885/2431	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	30 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 19 months	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	85/2557		19 September 1885	Revd. P. Chastagnon, Roman Catholic

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).