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 992

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
161	22 June 1885	John Muir Elizabeth Annie Walsh	John Muir Elizabeth Annie Worth 💍 1885/3835	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years years	St. Mary of the Angels	85/1228		22 June 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan
162	22 June 1885	George John Bristow Martha Andrew	George John Briston Martha Andrews 💍 1885/1304	Bachelor Widow	Joiner	21 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	85/1273		22 June 1885	Rev. Archdeacon Goff
163	23 June 1885	Patrick Keenan Alice Featherston	Patrick Queenan Alice Featherston 💍 1885/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 23	Wellington Wellington	4 Weeks 1 month	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/2286		23 June 1885	Rev. John McKenna
164	23 June 1885	Thomas Murphy Mary Kerly	Thomas Murphy Mary Kirby 💍 1885/1407	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 25	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/1239		23 June 1885	Rev. John McKenna
165	24 June 1885	James Shearman Margaret McLeod	James Shearman Margaret McLeod 💍 1885/1237	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	41 43	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 1 Week	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/1304		24 June 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Reg.
166	25 June 1885	Joseph Curtis Margaret Kennedy	Joseph Curtis Margaret Kennedy 💍 1885/1408	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	39 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	85/1240		25 June 1885	Rev. J. McKenna
167	27 June 1885	William Henry Herr Elizabeth Goulding	William Henry Herd Elizabeth Goulding 💍 1885/1400	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	23 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	85/1255		27 June 1885	Rev. W. C. Oliver
168	27 June 1885	Frederick William King Hannah Crowther	Frederick William King Hannah Crowther 💍 1885/1238	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Karori Karori	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/1305	Samuel Crowther, father	27 June 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Reg.
169	30 June 1885	Alfred James Long Mary Ann Duffy	Alfred James Long Mary Ann Duffy 💍 1885/2227	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	85/2280	No parents in Colony	30 June 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan
170	30 June 1885	Martin Olsen Christina Nelson	Martin Olsen Christina Halcrow 💍 1885/1239	Bachelor Widow	Boarding House Keeper	32 38	Wellington Wellington	12 months 12 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/1306		30 June 1885	W. L. Wyatt, Reg.
171	30 June 1885	Frederick Westbury Annie Maria Handcock	Frederick Westbury Annie Maria Marshall 💍 1885/2199	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	23 17	Johnsonville Johnsonville	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	85/2228	No parents in Colony	30 June 1885	Reg.
172	30 June 1885	John Thomas Leitch Annie Murphy	John Thomas Levett Annie Murphy 💍 1885/3818	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	28 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	85/1229		30 June 1885	Rev. P. Kerrigan

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).