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 974

District of WELLINGTON 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
331	21 December 1885	William Frederic Littlejohn Jeannie Berry	William Stile Littlejohn Jeannie Berry 💍 1885/3073	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 10 [illegible]	Residence of Mr Littlejohn, Crofton	85/3207		21 December 1885	Rev. J. Paterson
332	22 December 1885	Frederick James France Marcella Annie Carly	Frederick James France Marcella Minnie Carey 💍 1885/2996	Bachelor Spinster	Commission agent	28 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 12 months	St Marks Church	85/3158		22 December 1885	Rev. R. Coffey
333	22 December 1885	Thomas Webb Rosina Wilmshurst	Thomas Webb Rosina Wilmshurst 💍 1885/3042	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	23 19	Petone Johnsonville	12 months 4 years	House of Mr Wilmshurst, Johnsonville	85/3160	John Wilmshurst, father	22 December 1885	Rev. W. G. Olliver
334	24 December 1885	Samuel William Parsons Septima Chantelle	Samuel William Parsons Septima Mantell 💍 1885/3005	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	26 17	Silver Stream Upper Hutt	4 years 4 years	Registrar's office, Wellington	85/3195	Edward Mechain Chantelle, father	24 December 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Registrar
335	24 December 1885	Charles George Cameron Mary Evelyne Lucas	Charles George Cameron Mary Evelyne Lucas 💍 1885/3006	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	28 19	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrar's office, Wellington	85/3196	Charles Lucas, father	24 December 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Registrar
336	29 December 1885	Thomas Stay Janet McCallum	Thomas Hay Janet McCallum 💍 1885/3046	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 24	Wellington Wellington	5 days 4 years	Church of Christ, Dixon Street	85/3164		29 December 1885	Mr. J. F. Lloyd
337	29 December 1885	Harry Thomas Rewell Mary O'Brien	Henry Thomas Russell Mary O'Brien 💍 1886/469 Thomas Brookes Mary O'Brien 💍 1885/1673	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	19 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's office, Wellington	86/332	John Thomas Rewell, father. No parents in Colony	12 January 1886	Mr. T. Wyatt, Registrar
338	29 December 1885	William Right Kennedy Eleanor Ann Mountain	William Alfred Kennedy Eleanor Ann Mountain 💍 1885/3028	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	St Peters Church	85/3168		29 December 1885	The Archdeacon Stock
339	29 December 1885	Edgar Lionel Curtis Jennie Madden	Edgar Lionel Curtis Jennie Madson 💍 1885/3007	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	23 25	Lower Hutt Wellington	3 days 14 [illegible]	Registrar's office, Wellington	85/3197	William Madden	29 December 1885	Mr. T. Wyatt, Registrar
340	29 December 1885	Alexander McKennie Kate Evelina Brooke	Alexander MacKennair Orr Kate Eveline Brooks 💍 1886/1010	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr Summer, Upper Willis Street	85/1899		30 December 1885	Rev. C. S. Ogg
341	30 December 1885	Thomas Kempthorne Green Eleanor Marie Howard	Thomas Dempster Young Eleanor Marie Howard 💍 1885/3705	Bachelor Spinster	Inspector of Stock	29 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	House of Mr Leatham, [illegible]	85/3101		30 December 1885	Rev. C. S. Ogg
342	31 December 1885	Martin Daly Margaret Cleary	Martin Daly Margaret OLeary 💍 1886/456	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	26 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St Mary's Cathedral	86/303	Her parents in Colony	14 January 1886	Rev. J. McManaway

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).