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 1281

District of Quarter ending

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
539	20 October 1885	William Henry Christie Eliza Jane Woods	William Henry Christie Eliza Jane Woods 💍 1885/3152	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 18	Auckland Nelson Street	3 years 18 months	Dwelling of Eliza Jane Woods	85/3257	Mother	20 October 1885	Rev. R. F. Mainwaring, Presbyterian
540	21 October 1885	Robert Lamb Joanna Bowley	Robert Lamb Hannora Bowler 💍 1885/2702	Widower Spinster	Miller	36 23	St. Patrick's Cathedral Auckland	35 months 6 months	St. Patrick's Cathedral	85/2889		21 October 1885	Rev. J. Downey, Roman Catholic
541	21 October 1885	William Edwin Blurin Julia Frost	William Elwin Julia Frost 💍 1885/2784	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Official	29 21	Registrar's Office Auckland	3 months 5 months	Registrar's Office	85/2911		21 October 1885	Reg.
542	21 October 1885	Rowland William Faley Frances Emily Wright	Rowland McJabez Waterhouse Frances Emily Wright 💍 1885/3166	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 19	St. Mary's Church Parnell	2 years 19 months	St. Mary's Church	85/3257	Wm. Wright, Father	21 October 1885	Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, Ch. of Engl.
543	22 October 1885	Frederic Burkhardt Anna Catharina Senk	Frederic Burkhardt Anna Catharina Wenk 💍 1885/2960	Widower Spinster	Saddler	37 35	Ponsonby Auckland	3 months 1 month	Congregational Church, Beresford St	85/3015		22 October 1885	Rev. J. Robertson, Congl. Indep.
544	23 October 1885	Andrew Finlay Hannah Elizabeth Bray	Andrew Finlay Hannah Elizabeth Bray 💍 1885/2787	Bachelor Spinster	Rope maker	30 18	St. Luke's Church Mt. Albert	30 years 18 months	St. Luke's Church	85/2937	Elizabeth Bray, Mother	23 October 1885	Rev. J. Staulds, Church of Engl.
545	24 October 1885	Charles Siebert Gerdes Minna Bertha Augusta Amdt	Charles Siebert Gerdes Freese Minna Bertha Auguste Arndt 💍 1885/2959	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	29 30	Auckland Freese, Poidans, Jane Nelson St	5 months 2 months	Dwelling of Chas. Siebert Gerdes	85/3014		24 October 1885	Rev. J. Robertson, Congl. Indep.

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).