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 988

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
197	1 August 1885	Alexander Brombie Martha Jane Roberts	Alexander Crombie Martha Jane Roberts 💍 1885/2202	Widower Widow	Labourer	38 28	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2231		1 August 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Registrar
198	1 August 1885	John Carlson Elizabeth Edith Sae	John Carlson Elizabeth Edith Ide 💍 1885/2203 John Carlson Emma Alice Eden Birdsey 💍 1885/3506	Bachelor Spinster	Telephone Line Constructor	38 22	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2232		1 August 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Registrar
199	3 August 1885	Joseph George May Sarah Catherine Norris	Joseph George May Sarah Catherine Norris 💍 1885/2218	Bachelor Spinster	Mounted Constable	26 25	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary's Church	85/2277		3 August 1885	Rev. R. Coff
200	3 August 1885	Charles Augustus Hayes Susan Thomson	Charles Augustus Hayes Susan Thomson 💍 1885/2204	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	6 months 15 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2233		3 August 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Registrar
201	3 August 1885	John Patrick McNamara Lucy Agnes Martin	John Patrick McNamara Lucy Agnes Martin 💍 1885/2228	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary of the Angels	85/2281		3 August 1885	Rev. T. Kerrigan
202	4 August 1885	Cowarell Herbert Head Sarah Lillie Hobbs	Edward Herbert Hearle Sarah Julie Hobbs 💍 1885/2169	Widower Spinster	Storeman	38 23	Wellington Wellington	years	Christian Chapel, Dixon Street	85/2271		4 August 1885	Rev. J. Floyd
203	5 August 1885	William Henry Eade Mary Campbell	William Henry Eades Mary Campbell 💍 1885/2156 William Templeton Margaret Campbell 💍 1885/719	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	19 21	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years 1 month	Residence of Rev. R. [illegible] House	85/2259	William Eade, father	5 August 1885	Rev. David Rodger
204	5 August 1885	David Dick Mary Louise Catherine Grefor	David Dick Mary Louise Catherine Defoe 💍 1885/2181	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 24	Wainuiomata Wainuiomata	years 1 month	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2234		5 August 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Registrar
205	6 August 1885	Patrick O'Callaghan Elizabeth O'Connor	Patrick Hallaghan Elizabeth OConnor 💍 1885/2229	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	85/2282		6 August 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan
206	6 August 1885	William Parsons Mary Ann Cumming	William Parsons Mary McCumskey 💍 1885/2182	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	42 34	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2235		6 August 1885	W. S. Wyatt, Registrar
207	6 August 1885	Thomas Docker Barrow Elizabeth Barr	Thomas Daxter Elizabeth Barrow 💍 1885/2215 Thomas Matheson Elizabeth Boyt 💍 1885/2803 Thomas Lochhead Elizabeth Low 💍 1885/2369	Bachelor Spinster	Book Keeper	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	St. Paul's Church	85/2292	Parents	20 August 1885	Rev. John Still
208	11 August 1885	Daniel Montgomery Mary Florence Maguire	Daniel Montgomery Mary Florence Maguire 💍 1885/2231	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	34 22	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Rev. Watson's House	85/2284		11 August 1885	Rev. J. Pendray, United

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).