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 1301

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
417	5 August 1885	Herbert William Mills Emma Badley	Herbert William Wells Emma Badley 💍 1885/2044	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 17	Otahuhu Otahuhu	7 years 17 years	Dwelling of James Badley, Otahuhu	85/2079	James Badley, Father	5 August 1885	Rev. J. A. Lanfor
418	6 August 1885	Francis Porter Louisa Jane Boyd	Francis Porter Louisa Jane Boyd 💍 1885/2021	Bachelor Spinster	Concreter	22 19	Newmarket Auckland	22 years 19 years	Registrars Office, Auckland	85/2079	Alfred C. Boyd, Father	6 August 1885	J. Owen Lord
419	8 August 1885	Joseph Wheeler Sarah Bright	Joseph Wheeler Sarah Wright 💍 1885/2022 John Joseph Wheeler Sarah Ann Sheil 💍 1885/2999	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 27	Newton Auckland	3 years 9 years	Registrars Office, Auckland	85/2080		8 August 1885	J. Owen Lord
420	8 August 1885	William Roseman Dalton Rebecca Anna Jane Dalton	William Roseman Rebecca Anna Jane Valton 💍 1885/2035	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	24 25	Auckland Auckland	25 years 6 years	Dwelling of Wm. Roseman Dalton, Hobson Street	85/2079		8 August 1885	Rev. C. Warboys
421	10 August 1885	William Gustav Adolfh Sarah Jane Heather	William Gustave Emil Adolph Sarah Jane Leathem 💍 1885/1954	Bachelor Spinster	Flax & Rope Maker	30 18	Pokeno Pokeno	24 years 18 years	St. Andrews Church, Allen Road	85/1984	Rebecca Jane Heather, Mother	10 August 1885	Rev. A. Carrick
422	11 August 1885	Henry Hartley Mary Ann Dalton	Henry Hartley Mary Walton 💍 1885/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	23 23	Auckland Auckland	2 years 22 years	Dwelling of Ann Dalton, Hobson Street	85/2015		11 August 1885	Rev. C. Warboys
423	13 August 1885	James Bruce Connell Lockhart Eliza Chapman	James Bruce Forrest Lockhart Eliza Chapman 💍 1885/2050	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	23 39	Otahuhu Otahuhu	7 years 20 years	Dwelling of Rev. J. Wallis, North Eden Road	85/2071		13 August 1885	Rev. J. Wallis

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).