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 980

District of [illegible] Quarter ending [illegible]

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
283	6 November 1885	Henry John Mason Jane Little	Henry John Mason Jane Little 💍 1885/2988 John Brown Janet Little 💍 1886/829	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	33 18	Wellington Wellington	6 months years	York House, Terrace	85/3152	No parents in Colony	20 November 1885	Rev W. C. Oliver
284	10 November 1885	Charles Thomas Hande Brown Charlotte Mary Dickens	Charles Thomas Harold Brown Charlotte Mary Vickens 💍 1885/3029	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	27 23	Karori Karori	years years	St Mary's	85/3169		10 November 1885	Rev A. G. Coff
285	11 November 1885	John de Grey Birch Ellen Winkless	John De Gray Birch Ellen Winkless 💍 1885/3011	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Wellington Wellington	8 months 2 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/3183	No parents in Colony	25 November 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Regr
286	11 November 1885	James Turner Ellen Osborn	James Turner Ellen Osborne 💍 1885/2985	Widower Widow	Waterman	45 48	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Bridegroom	85/3150		11 November 1885	Rev W. C. Oliver
287	12 November 1885	Jacob Oscar Beaterlend Emma Godden	Jacob Oscar Cederlund Emma Godden 💍 1885/3038	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	2 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/3179		12 November 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Regr
288	12 November 1885	August Hermann Krieger Sarah Ann Richards	August Herman Kingge Sarah Ann Richardson 💍 1885/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 24	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Rev. James Paterson	85/3206		12 November 1885	Rev J. Paterson
289	16 November 1885	John William Bentley Frances Elizabeth Manning	John William Bentley Frances Elizabeth Mannering 💍 1885/3039	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 18	Wellington Wellington	year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/3180	Rhoda Pringle, mother	16 November 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Regr
290	16 November 1885	Bernard Mulholland Janetta Lena Herrison	Bernard Mulholland Janetta Leno Morrison 💍 1885/3040	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/3181		16 November 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Regr
291	17 November 1885	Thomas Martin Annie Maher	Thomas Martin Annie Maher 💍 1885/3702	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 25	Wellington Wellington	6 months 4 months	St Mary of the Angels	85/3154		17 November 1885	Rev P. Kerrigan
292	17 November 1885	Thomas Sarabackia Elizabeth Hickie	Thomas Tarabuckia Elizabeth Hickie 💍 1885/3703	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 20	Wellington Wellington	years 5 months	St Mary of the Angels	85/3159		1 December 1885	Rev P. Kerrigan
293	17 November 1885	George Arthur Thirkell Alice Dixon	George Arthur Strike Alice Dixon 💍 1885/2987	Widower Spinster	Colonial Maker	43 21	Wellington Wellington	years 8 months	House of Bridegroom	85/3157		17 November 1885	Rev W. C. Oliver
294	17 November 1885	Stanley Arthur Waller Annie Neale	Stanley Arthur Walters Annie Neale 💍 1885/3027	Widower Spinster	Labourer	29 26	Wellington Wellington	years	St Peter's Church	85/3167		17 November 1885	Ven Archdeacon Stock

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).