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 822

District of Wairau 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
16	16 July 1885	James Gane Margaret Elizabeth Gough	James Gans Margaret Elizabeth Gough 💍 1885/2630	Widower Spinster	Farmer	42 years 36	Spring Creek Spring Creek	19 years 4 days	The House of Mr. James Gane, Spring Creek	85/2813		16 July 1885	Revd Arthur Hermon
17	8 July 1885	George William Andrew Breedio Lucy Dodson	George William Andrew Crudis Lucy Dodson 💍 1885/2642	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	32 26	Spring Creek Spring Creek	about 16 years about 5 years	The House of Mr. G. W. A. Dodson, Spring Creek	85/2824		8 July 1885	Revd John Crump
18	15 July 1885	Patrick Meigham Henrietta Thornhill	Patrick Meighan Henrietta Thornhill McMorrion 💍 1885/2639	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Tua Marina Tua Marina	about 9 years about 15 years	The House of Mr. Meigham, Tua Marina	85/2821	Mr. Morrin	15 July 1885	Revd John Lane
19	27 July 1885	John Meadows Draw Mary Humphreys	John Meadows Drew Mary Humffreys 💍 1885/2629	Bachelor Widow	Station Hand	46 41	Wairau Valley Wairau Valley	20 years about 20 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	85/2812		27 July 1885	Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
20	1 August 1885	Thomas Johnson May Christiana Robinson	Thomas Johnson May Christiana Robinson 💍 1885/2634	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 27	Blenheim Blenheim	11 years 1 week	The Church of the Trinity, Blenheim	85/2817		1 August 1885	Revd J. S. Grace
21	8 August 1885	Thomas Whitewell Elizabeth Annie Rouse	Thomas Whitwell Elizabeth Anne House Hosking 💍 1885/2643 Thomas Fitzgerald Elizabeth Shields 💍 1885/3501	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Dillons Point High Street, Blenheim	about 2 years about 3 years	The House of Mr. John Hosking, High Street, Blenheim	85/2825		8 August 1885	Revd J. S. Grace
22	17 August 1885	Herbert Blow Annie Margaretha Dorothea Hammerich	Herbert Snow Annie Margretha Dorothea Hammerick 💍 1885/2628	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	25 18	Blenheim Blenheim	10 months 9 months	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	85/2811	Hans Franzis Frederick Hammerich, father	17 August 1885	Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
23	17 August 1885	Thomas Benjamin Salmon Eliza Dunlop Rayner	Thomas Benjamin Salmon Eliza Dunlop Rayner 💍 1885/2635	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	27 24	Blenheim Blenheim	5 years 21 years	The Church of the Trinity, Blenheim	85/2818		17 August 1885	Revd J. S. Grace
24	17 August 1885	George Sheridan Eliza Maria Byford	George Sheridan Eliza Maria Byford 💍 1885/2636	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	24 24	Blenheim Blenheim	12 years 10 years	The Church of the Trinity, Blenheim	85/2819		17 August 1885	Revd J. S. Grace
25	22 August 1885	Robert Anthony Storey Frances Maud Chittenden	Robert Anthony Storey Frances Maud Chittenden 💍 1885/2638	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 19	Blenheim Blenheim	22 years 9 years	The Church of the Trinity, Blenheim	85/2820	Daniel Chittenden, father	22 August 1885	Revd H. F. Butt

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).