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 820

District of [illegible] 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
31	23 October 1885	Samuel Joseph Dew Marie Florence Walch	Samuel Joseph Dew Mary Walsh 💍 1885/3169	Bachelor Spinster	Mounted Constable Music Teacher	25 21	Blenheim Blenheim	2 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Church	85/3268		23 October 1885	Revd. W. G. Lewis
32	26 October 1885	William Dale Eliza Henriette Simmonds	William Cate Eliza Henrihetti Simmonds 💍 1885/3151	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	26 21	Wairau West Blenheim	1 year 1 week	The House of Robert Gore, Grove Road, Blenheim	85/3250		26 October 1885	Revd. John Crump
33	28 October 1885	Thomas Johnson Hannah Gillett	Thomas Johnson Hannah Gillett 💍 1885/3150	Bachelor Widow	Farm Labourer Sempstress	47 40	Blenheim Blenheim	18 months 1 week	The House of Henry Jellyman, Maxwell Road, Blenheim	85/3249		28 October 1885	Revd. John Crump
34	30 October 1885	James Dear Walch Emily Mary Weidman	James Oscar Walshe Emily Mary Weidman 💍 1885/3168	Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser Milliner	25 25	Blenheim Blenheim	12 months 4 years	The Roman Catholic Church	85/3267		30 October 1885	Revd. W. G. Lewis
35	17 November 1885	Walter Milner Shepherd Tristler Agnes Henry Hogan	Walter Milner Shepherd Trischler Agnes Mary Hogan 💍 1885/3170	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 16	Blenheim Blenheim	2 years 5 years	The House of the Revd. W. G. Lewis, Maxwell Road, Blenheim	85/3269	Patrick Hogan, Father	17 November 1885	Revd. W. G. Lewis
36	20 November 1885	Charles Clements Morris Sarah Elizabeth Morris	Charles Clements Sarah Elizabeth Morriss 💍 1885/3171	Widower Spinster	Hairdresser	45 23	Blenheim Blenheim	5 months 3 days	The Office of the Registrar	85/3210		20 November 1885	The Deputy Registrar
37	3 December 1885	George Thomas Foster Annie Elizabeth Berry	George Thomas Foster Annie Elizabeth Berry 💍 1885/3189	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	28 21	Blenheim Renwicktown	10 years 12 years	The Salvation Army Barracks, Wapiti Street, Blenheim	85/3265		3 December 1885	A. F. Butt, Capt.
38	16 December 1885	Alfred Harold Lucao Eliza Bateman Burroughs	Alfred Harold Lucas Eliza Bateman Burroughs 💍 1885/3105	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	23 20	Blenheim Tua Marina	7 years 20 years	The House of Mr. John Burroughs, Tua Marina	85/3264	John Burroughs, Father	16 December 1885	Revd. John Crump

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).