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 870

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1885 Registrar J Grubb

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

21 February 1885

Harry Lowe
Jane Elizabeth Lambley Parrish

Harry Lowe
Jane Elizabeth Lambley Parrish
💍 1885/447

Widower
Spinster

Painter

40
36

Napier
Napier

11 years
5 years

St Johns Church Napier

85/448

21 February 1885

Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

No	18
Date of Notice	21 February 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Lowe	Jane Elizabeth Lambley Parrish
	💍 1885/447
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Napier
Folio	85/448
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

5 March 1885

William Frederick Mason
Blanch Malverine Krogh

William Frederick Mason
Blanche Malverine Throgh
💍 1885/534

Widower
Spinster

Road Inspector

49
27

Tarawera
Port Ahuriri

3 months
3 years

Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier

85/425

5 March 1885

Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	5 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Mason	Blanch Malverine Krogh
BDM Match (94%)	William Frederick Mason	Blanche Malverine Throgh
	💍 1885/534
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Road Inspector
Age	49	27
Dwelling Place	Tarawera	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	85/425
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

6 March 1885

Samuel Bentley
Emma James

Samuel Bentley
Emma James
💍 1885/535

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

33
23

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier

85/426

6 March 1885

Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	6 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Bentley	Emma James
	💍 1885/535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	85/426
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

11 March 1885

Andrew Brady
Margaret Hennessey

Andrew Brady
Margaret Hennessey
💍 1885/536

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
23

Clive
Napier

5 years
6 years

House of W Chapple, Napier

85/427

11 March 1885

Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	11 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Brady	Margaret Hennessey
	💍 1885/536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Clive	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of W Chapple, Napier
Folio	85/427
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian

23 March 1885

Joseph Goldsmith
Sarah Ellen Wilkins

Joseph Goldsmith
Sarah Ellen Wilkins
💍 1885/539

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22
20

Napier
Napier

10 years
11 years

St Augustine Church, Napier

85/430

William JOhn Wilkins Father

23 March 1885

Rev. J. Parkinson English Church

No	22
Date of Notice	23 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Goldsmith	Sarah Ellen Wilkins
	💍 1885/539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine Church, Napier
Folio	85/430
Consent	William JOhn Wilkins Father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Parkinson English Church

27 March 1885

William Edwin Griffin
Adelaide Primrose Bell

William Edwin Griffin
Adelaide Primrose Bell
💍 1885/1344

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

26
23

Napier
Napier

1 month
5 years

St Johns Church Napier

85/1365

27 March 1885

Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

No	23
Date of Notice	27 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edwin Griffin	Adelaide Primrose Bell
	💍 1885/1344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 month	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Napier
Folio	85/1365
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

28 March 1885

Alfred Coker
Fanny Waters

Alfred Coker
Fanny Waters
💍 1885/1520

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

27
17

Napier
Napier

5 years
10 months

Residence of Rev. W. Wesh, Napier

85/1353

James Waters Father

28 March 1885

Rev. W. Welsh English Church

No	24
Date of Notice	28 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Coker	Fanny Waters
	💍 1885/1520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. Wesh, Napier
Folio	85/1353
Consent	James Waters Father
Date of Certificate	28 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Welsh English Church

28 March 1885

Walter Herbert Arrow
Josephine Mary Hansard

Walter Herbert Arrow
Josephine Mary Hansard
💍 1885/1341

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Teller

24
24

Napier

7 years
7 years

St Johns Church Napier

85/1362

30 March 1885

Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

No	25
Date of Notice	28 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Herbert Arrow	Josephine Mary Hansard
	💍 1885/1341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Teller
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Napier
Folio	85/1362
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

31 March 1885

Frank Cogswell
Jessie Jane Evinson

Frank Cogswell
Jessie Jane Evenson
💍 1885/1334

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
17

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

6 months
10 months

St Johns Church Napier

85/1361

Samuel EvinsonFather

31 March 1885

Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

No	26
Date of Notice	31 March 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cogswell	Jessie Jane Evinson
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Cogswell	Jessie Jane Evenson
	💍 1885/1334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	6 months	10 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Church Napier
Folio	85/1361
Consent	Samuel EvinsonFather
Date of Certificate	31 March 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).