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 942

District of Masterton 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
41	13 October 1885	Phillip John Le Brutilliot Mary Juliana Robins	Philip John Le Boutillier Mary Juliana Robins 💍 1885/3713	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter School teacher	29 22	Masterton Masterton	13 Months 2 weeks	Church of England	85/3168		13 October 1885	Rev. W. E. Paige
42	14 October 1885	David Dixow Fanny Hessey	David Dixon Fanny Hessey 💍 1885/3870	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	44 43	Masterton Masterton	30 years 15 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	85/3213		14 October 1885	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
43	16 October 1885	Francis Liddy Emma Sarah Page	Francis Liddy Emma Sarah Page 💍 1885/3093	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	20 16	Brancepeth Brancepeth	2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	85/3214	John Page, father	16 October 1885	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
44	20 October 1885	Jeremiah Coughlan Catherine Roberts	Jermiah Coughlan Kate Roberts 💍 1885/3074	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 25	Masterton Rangitumau (Masterton)	3 days 3 Months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	85/3217		20 October 1885	Rev. Patrick Tracy, Roman Catholic Priest
45	31 October 1885	John Boys Elizabeth Curry	John Boys Elizabeth Curry 💍 1885/3094	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	24 19	Masterton Masterton	3 days 5 weeks	Office of Registrar of Marriages	85/3215		14 November 1885	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
46	18 November 1885	Francis Forest Jessie McKenzie	Francis Court Jessie McKenzie 💍 1885/3095	Bachelor Spinster	Rabbitter	21 20	Rangitumau Rangitumau	2 years 12 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	85/3216	John McKenzie, father	18 November 1885	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
47	20 November 1885	Charles Davies Ellen Mary Ruth	Charles Davies Ellen Mary Rtuh 💍 1885/3075	Bachelor Spinster	Billiard Marker Cook	34 28	Masterton Masterton	8 years 9 Months	Roman Catholic Chapel	85/3218		20 November 1885	Rev. Patrick Tracy, Roman Catholic Priest
48	25 November 1885	Hans Christensen Andersen Anna Kirstine Andersen	Hans Christensen Anna Kristine Anderson 💍 1885/3078	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	33 24	Opaki Mauriceville	4 years 8 years	Wesleyan Church	85/3221		25 November 1885	Rev. Edward Neilson, Wesleyan Methodist
49	25 November 1885	Martin O'Brien Margaret Carroll	Martin OBrien Margaret Carroll 💍 1885/3076	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Kopuaranga Kopuaranga	18 Months 5 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	85/3219	John Carroll, father	25 November 1885	Rev. Patrick Tracy, Roman Catholic Priest
50	23 December 1885	William Neill Elizabeth Muniford	William Neill Elizabeth Minifie 💍 1885/3092	Bachelor Spinster	Coach proprietor	31 23	Masterton Masterton	4 years 5 years	House of Mr. Joseph Muniford	85/3212		23 December 1885	Rev. J. N. Buttle, Wesleyan

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).