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 946

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 April 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
12	2 April 1885	Henry James Timms Honora O'Leary	Henry James Timms Hanoria O'Leary 💍 1885/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	28 30	Masterton Masterton	7 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	85/1324		2 April 1885	Revd Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic
13	4 April 1885	Denis McMullan Ann O'Leary	Denis McMullen Annie O'Leary 💍 1885/1278	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic Servant	29 21	Masterton Masterton	8 years 12 Months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	85/1329		4 April 1885	Revd Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic
14	4 April 1885	Joseph William Ranby Emma Maude Wilton	Joseph William Ranby Emma Maud Wilton 💍 1885/1297	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 19	Masterton Kuripuni	4 years 8 years	House of Mr William Wilton	85/1317	William Wilton, Father	4 April 1885	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian
15	4 April 1885	Peter Hugenet Mary Darcy	Peter Kugener Mary Darcy 💍 1885/1284	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer Domestic Servant	29 20	Masterton Masterton	4 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	85/1328		22 April 1885	Revd Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic
16	18 April 1885	William Hall Ruth Gardner	William Hall Ruth Gardner 💍 1885/3822	Bachelor Spinster	Settler Domestic Servant	24 21	Pahiatua Masterton	3 years 10 years	House of Mr Thomas Gardner	85/1318		18 April 1885	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian
17	20 April 1885	John Grengor Anna Darcy	John Grengor Anne Darcy 💍 1885/1283	Bachelor Spinster	Stonemason	32 26	Masterton Masterton	2 Months 2 weeks	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	85/1327		20 April 1885	Revd Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic
18	25 April 1885	James Trevilian Vercour Jenny Henriette Gardner	James Trevilian Vercoe McGregor Jenny Henriette Gunderson 💍 1885/1279	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 16	Mauriceville Mauriceville	12 Months 9 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	85/1325	John Bragg, Father	25 April 1885	John Bragg, Registrar of Marriages
19	27 April 1885	George William Foy Sarah Jorns	George William Cox Sarah Iorns 💍 1885/1295 George William Shaw Sarah Ann Lawrence 💍 1885/213	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 31	Te ore ore Te ore ore	5 years 7 years	Church of England, Masterton	85/1315		27 April 1885	Revd W. F. P. Parge, Church of England
20	28 April 1885	John William Beaufoy Margaret Jane Jessop	John William Beaufort Margaret Jane Livingston 💍 1885/1298	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	37 21	Masterton Masterton	2 years 3 days	Presbyterian Church, Masterton	85/1319		28 April 1885	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian
21	30 April 1885	Ludolf Timmer Agnes Campbell	Ludolf Timmer Agnes Campbell 💍 1885/1277	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	42 22	Brancepeth Brancepeth	7 years 8 Months	Presbyterian Manse, Masterton	85/1321		30 April 1885	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian

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).