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 629

District of Rangiora 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
462	20 April 1885	Frank William Elliot Emma Prior	Frank William Elliott Emma Prior 💍 1885/2524	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener not any	27 21	Fernside Fernside	3 days 4 years	Church of England	85/2438		20 April 1885	Rev. W. Dudley
463	20 April 1885	Patrick Costin Ellen Brown	Patrick Costin Ellen Brown 💍 1885/1487	Bachelor Spinster	Constable of Police not any	29 22	Rangiora Christchurch	3 Weeks 4 years	Roman Catholic	85/2435		30 April 1885	Rev. L. Gurly
464	5 May 1885	Frederick Bourne Mary Shaw	Frederick Bourn Mary Shaw 💍 1885/2515	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer not any	34 22	Rangiora Rangiora	3 years 20 years	Church of England	85/2430		5 May 1885	Rev. W. Dudley
465	6 May 1885	John Clark Christina McIntosh	John Clark Christina McIntosh 💍 1885/2518	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	26 21	Sefton, Rangiora Sefton	18 years 16 years	Dwelling house of Donald McIntosh	85/2433		6 May 1885	Rev. R. Leet
466	26 May 1885	Francis Cassiday Margaret Hearn	Francis Cassidy Margaret Hearon 💍 1885/2522	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	35 22	Rangiora Woodend, Rangiora	14 days 6 months	Roman Catholic Church	85/2436		26 May 1885	Rev. J. N. Binsfeld
467	26 May 1885	James Kearney Mary Sword	James Kearney Mary Sowerds 💍 1885/2520	Widower Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	41 34	Fernside, Rangiora Fernside	13 years 2 years	R. C. Church	85/2435		26 May 1885	Rev. J. N. Binsfeld
468	2 June 1885	John Droger Bridget Kennedy	John Dwyer Bridget Kennedy 💍 1885/2523	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer not any	24 18	Fernside Fernside	4 years 18 years	R. C. Church	85/2437	Patrick Kennedy, father	2 June 1885	Rev. J. N. Binsfeld
469	8 June 1885	Moses Smith Betsy Mary Sealey	Moses Smith Mary Betsey Sealey 💍 1885/2517	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	21 20	Rangiora Southbrook	21 years 20 years	Church of England	85/2432	Betsy Sealey, Mother	10 June 1885	Rev. W. Dudley
470	9 June 1885	George Buckham Margaret Bertha Todge	George Buckham Margaret Priscilla Torlesse 💍 1885/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster not any	46 22	Rangiora Rangiora	13 years 20 years	Church of England, Rangiora	85/2431		9 June 1885	Rev. W. Dudley
471	18 June 1885	Thomas Thurlow Mary Brock	Thomas Thompson Mary Brock 💍 1885/2519	Widower Widow	Carpenter Housewife	52 38	Rangiora Rangiora	9 years 7 years	Office of Registrar	85/2434		18 June 1885	A. McCunniff, Registrar

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).