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

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
18	21 February 1885	Haery Lowe Janet Elizabeth Lambley	Harry Lowe Jane Elizabeth Lambley Parrish 💍 1885/447	Widower Spinster	Painter	40 36	Napier Parrish	11 years 5 years	St Johns Church Napier	85/1448		21 February 1885	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church
19	5 March 1885	William Frederick Mason Blanch Malverine Kroghe	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	85/425		5 March 1885	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian
20	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	85/426		6 March 1885	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian
21	11 March 1885	Andrew Brady Margaret Hennessey	Andrew Brady Margaret Hennessey 💍 1885/536	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 20	Clive Napier	5 years 6 years	House of Rev. J. G. Paterson Chapple	85/427		11 March 1885	Rev. J. G. Paterson Presbyterian
22	23 March 1885	Joseph Goldsmith Sarah Ellen Wilkin	Joseph Goldsmith Sarah Ellen Wilkins 💍 1885/539	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 26	Napier Napier	10 years 1 year	Augustine Church	85/430	William Wilkin Father	23 March 1885	Rev. J. Parkinson English Church
23	27 March 1885	William Edwin Griffin Adelaide Primrose Bell	William Edwin Griffin Adelaide Primrose Bell 💍 1885/1344	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	26 20	Napier Napier	1 month 5 years	St Johns Church	85/1363	James Bell Father	27 March 1885	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church
24	28 March 1885	Alfred Coker Fanny Waters	Alfred Coker Fanny Waters 💍 1885/1520	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	27 17	Napier Napier	7 years 10 months	Residence of Rev. W. T. Nelsh	85/1353	Samuel Waters Father	28 March 1885	Rev. W. T. Nelsh English Church
25	28 March 1885	Walter Herbert Arrow Josephine Mary Howell	Walter Herbert Arrow Josephine Mary Hansard 💍 1885/1341	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Teller	24 24	Napier Napier	7 years 7 years	St Johns Church	85/1362		30 March 1885	Rev. De Berdt Hovell English Church
26	31 March 1885	Frank Cogswell Jessie Jane Cousins	Frank Cogswell Jessie Jane Evenson 💍 1885/1334	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	20 17	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	6 months 10 months	St Johns Church	85/1361	Samuel Cousins Father	31 March 1885	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).

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).