Intentions to Marry, 1886

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840398, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 051

District of Quarter ending 31 March 1886 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

20 January 1886

Henry Eddy Nicholls
Emily Mary Stead

Henry Eddy Nichols
Emily Mary Stead
💍 1886/230

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
22

Pumeru
Pumeru

2 years
3 years

Wesleyan Church

86/38

20 January 1886

Rev. J. G. Carr Wesleyan

No	43
Date of Notice	20 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Eddy Nicholls	Emily Mary Stead
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Eddy Nichols	Emily Mary Stead
	💍 1886/230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Pumeru	Pumeru
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	86/38
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Carr Wesleyan

20 January 1886

John Sadgrove
Caroline Annie Hunt

John Sadgrove
Caroline Annie Hunt
💍 1886/303

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
22

Mt. Albert
Auckland

3 years
5 months

Office of Registrar

86/117

20 January 1886

J. Owen Lord Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	20 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sadgrove	Caroline Annie Hunt
	💍 1886/303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Mt. Albert	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar
Folio	86/117
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1886
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Registrar

20 January 1886

George Pedes
Emma Stimana

George Pedes
Emma Himana
💍 1886/288

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

28
30

Swanson
Auckland

19 years
3 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

86/98

20 January 1886

Rev. W. McDonald Roman Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	20 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Pedes	Emma Stimana
BDM Match (92%)	George Pedes	Emma Himana
	💍 1886/288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Swanson	Auckland
Length of Residence	19 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	86/98
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonald Roman Catholic

21 January 1886

Patrick Grant
Elizabeth Phillimina Grant

Patrick Grant
Elizabeth Phillamena Grant
💍 1886/334

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

40
42

Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 days

St. Sepulchre's Church

86/114

21 January 1886

Rev. D. J. Dudley Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	21 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Grant	Elizabeth Phillimina Grant
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Grant	Elizabeth Phillamena Grant
	💍 1886/334
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church
Folio	86/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Dudley Church of England

22 January 1886

Robert Brown
Mary Hogan

Robert Brown
Mary Hogan
💍 1886/241

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
23

Mangawai
Mangawai

20 years
23 years

Dwelling of Pearson Wilson

86/49

22 January 1886

Rev. H. Rule Wesleyan

No	47
Date of Notice	22 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown	Mary Hogan
	💍 1886/241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Mangawai	Mangawai
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Pearson Wilson
Folio	86/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Rule Wesleyan

23 January 1886

Frederick Smallwood
Elizabeth Handly

[It appears no marriage was registered]

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

45
26

Whirinaki
Auckland

3 years
6 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

23 January 1886

Rev. W. McDonald Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	23 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Smallwood	Elizabeth Handly
	💍 [It appears no marriage was registered]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	Whirinaki	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonald Roman Catholic

25 January 1886

Francis Jonathan Coulthard
Emma Selkirk Jack

Francis Jonathan Coulthard
Emma Selkirk Jack
💍 1886/384

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Merchant

36
18

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
5 years

Dwelling of James Selkirk Jack

86/228

James Selkirk Jack, father

25 January 1886

Rev. J. Dellow Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	25 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Jonathan Coulthard	Emma Selkirk Jack
	💍 1886/384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Merchant
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Selkirk Jack
Folio	86/228
Consent	James Selkirk Jack, father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dellow Presbyterian

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 1908. 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).