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 1020

District of Sanson Quarter ending 30 June 1885 Registrar C J Hill

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

7 April 1885

Jonathan William Brown
Sophia Ann Coker

Jonathan William Brown
Sophia Ann Coker
💍 1885/1187

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaster

21
21

Campbelltown
Campbelltown

5 years
6 years

Mr. Bull's private house

85/1219

7 April 1885

Rev. James Clove

No	3
Date of Notice	7 April 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan William Brown	Sophia Ann Coker
	💍 1885/1187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaster
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Campbelltown	Campbelltown
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Bull's private house
Folio	85/1219
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Clove

14 May 1885

Frank Russell
Fanny Elizabeth Holland

Francis Russell
Fanny Elizabeth Holland
💍 1885/1221

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
17

Carnarvon
Carnarvon

week
6 years

Mr. Holland's private house

85/1197

Jn. Holland, father

14 May 1885

Rev. J. C. Dodwell

No	4
Date of Notice	14 May 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Russell	Fanny Elizabeth Holland
BDM Match (90%)	Francis Russell	Fanny Elizabeth Holland
	💍 1885/1221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Carnarvon	Carnarvon
Length of Residence	week	6 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Holland's private house
Folio	85/1197
Consent	Jn. Holland, father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Dodwell

1 June 1885

John Sanson
Emily Florence Tompkins

John Sanson
Emily Florence Tompkins
💍 1885/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
23

Sanson
Sanson

13 years
10 years

Mr. H Sanson's private house

85/1220

1 June 1885

Rev. J. H. Simmons

No	5
Date of Notice	1 June 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sanson	Emily Florence Tompkins
	💍 1885/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Sanson	Sanson
Length of Residence	13 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Mr. H Sanson's private house
Folio	85/1220
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Simmons

3 June 1885

Charles Ernest Joseph Thompson
Emily Mary Theresa Henry

Charles Ernest Joseph Thompson
Emily Mary Theresa Henry
💍 1885/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

22
19

Awahuri

One month

Sanson Registry office

85/1222

Christina McClenaghan (mother)

3 June 1885

C. J. Hill (Registrar)

No	6
Date of Notice	3 June 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Joseph Thompson	Emily Mary Theresa Henry
	💍 1885/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Awahuri
Length of Residence	One month
Marriage Place	Sanson Registry office
Folio	85/1222
Consent	Christina McClenaghan (mother)
Date of Certificate	3 June 1885
Officiating Minister	C. J. Hill (Registrar)

15 June 1885

John Frecklington
Edith Fanny Simpson

John Frecklington
Edith Fanny Simpson
💍 1885/2114

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
19

Carnarvon

7 years
5 years

St. Thomas's Church - Sanson

85/2216

John Simpson, father

15 June 1885

Rev. J. C. Dodwell

No	7
Date of Notice	15 June 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frecklington	Edith Fanny Simpson
	💍 1885/2114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Carnarvon
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas's Church - Sanson
Folio	85/2216
Consent	John Simpson, father
Date of Certificate	15 June 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Dodwell

20 June 1885

Herbert Sanson
Mary Eliza Wrigley

Herbert Sanson
Mary Eliza Wrigley
💍 1885/1189

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

22
23

Sanson

13 years
8 years

Mr. Wrigley's private house

85/1221

20 June 1885

Rev. J. H. Simmons

No	8
Date of Notice	20 June 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Sanson	Mary Eliza Wrigley
	💍 1885/1189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Sanson
Length of Residence	13 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Wrigley's private house
Folio	85/1221
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Simmons

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).