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 1220

District of Quarter ending 30 September 1885

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

25 August 1885

John McCostrie
Marion Houston Davies

John McCoskrie
Marion Houston Davies
💍 1885/2071

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
none

39 years
21 years

Auckland
Thames

3 days
17 years

Dwelling house of Mr. William Davies, Totara

85/2131

25 August 1885

Rev. S. I. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	25 August 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McCostrie	Marion Houston Davies
BDM Match (96%)	John McCoskrie	Marion Houston Davies
	💍 1885/2071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	none
Age	39 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. William Davies, Totara
Folio	85/2131
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. I. Neill, Presbyterian Minister

31 August 1885

William Richard Woolley
Margaret Rebecca Lamb

William Richard Woolley
Margaret Rebecca Lamb
💍 1885/2081

Bachelor
Spinster

Baptist Minister
none

34 years
20 years

Thames
Thames

2 years
15 years

Baptist Church, Thames

85/2134

Alexander Lamb, father of minor

31 August 1885

Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, Baptist Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	31 August 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Woolley	Margaret Rebecca Lamb
	💍 1885/2081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baptist Minister	none
Age	34 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	85/2134
Consent	Alexander Lamb, father of minor
Date of Certificate	31 August 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Spurgeon, Baptist Minister

5 September 1885

Joseph Pennell
Elisabeth McConnell

Joseph Pennell
Elizabeth McConnell
💍 1885/2069

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
none

27 years
18 years

Hikutaia
Franklin St, Thames

18 months
6 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Samuel Ross, Franklin St

85/2129

Mary Pennell, formerly McConnell, mother of minor

5 September 1885

Rev. J. F. Evans, Church of England Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	5 September 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Pennell	Elisabeth McConnell
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Pennell	Elizabeth McConnell
	💍 1885/2069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	none
Age	27 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Franklin St, Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Samuel Ross, Franklin St
Folio	85/2129
Consent	Mary Pennell, formerly McConnell, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	5 September 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Evans, Church of England Minister

7 September 1885

Thomas Cook Bayldon
Margaret Synes Watts

Thomas Cook Bayldon
Margaret Symes Watts
💍 1885/2151

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Master
none

36 years
18 years

Mackay St
Mackay St and Auckland

5 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

85/2090

John William Watts, father of minor

7 September 1885

J. Owen Lord, Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

No	41
Date of Notice	7 September 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Cook Bayldon	Margaret Synes Watts
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Cook Bayldon	Margaret Symes Watts
	💍 1885/2151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Master	none
Age	36 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Mackay St	Mackay St and Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	85/2090
Consent	John William Watts, father of minor
Date of Certificate	7 September 1885
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

14 September 1885

Alfred Jacob Smith
Fanny Herringshaw

Alfred Jacob Smith
Fanny Herringshaw
💍 1885/2662

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
none

23 years
21 years

Pollen St
Pollen St

10 months
18 months

Primitive Methodist Church, Thames

85/2827

14 September 1885

Rev. Arthur J. Smith, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	42
Date of Notice	14 September 1885
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jacob Smith	Fanny Herringshaw
	💍 1885/2662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	none
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Pollen St
Length of Residence	10 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	85/2827
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1885
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur J. Smith, Primitive Methodist Minister

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).