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 133

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1886

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
25	9 February 1886	George Webster Lucy Mono	George Webster Lucy Moore 💍 1886/489	Bachelor Widow	Waiter	36 25	Wellington Wellington	12 months 2 years	Registrars office	86/334		9 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr
26	9 February 1886	William Henry Kinsey Amy Ada Sophia Weiss	William Henry Kinsey Amy Ada Sophia Weiss 💍 1886/459	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	26 19	Wellington Wellington	12 months 2 years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/356	Emily Weiss, Mother	9 February 1886	Rev. John Stull Clergyman
27	11 February 1886	Ernest Frederick Daniel Mary Amelia Healey	Ernest Frederick Daniel Mary Amelia Healey 💍 1886/490	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	27 28	Wellington Wellington	2 years 1 month	Registrars office	86/338		11 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr
28	13 February 1886	William John Ashby Jane Edwards	William John Ashby Jane Edwards 💍 1886/493	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	57 23	Ohariu Ohariu	7 years 7 years	Registrars office	86/341		13 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr
29	15 February 1886	Alfred Slater Moys Mary Anne Jane Helleur	Alfred Slater Moys Mary Annie Helleur 💍 1886/446	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 21	Wellington Wellington	1 month 4 days	House of Mrs. Brown, Barker Street	86/319		15 February 1886	Rev. W. C. Oliver
30	15 February 1886	Fred Marshall Eliza Jane Knuckey	Fred Marshall Eliza Jane Knuckey 💍 1886/447	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 19	Johnsonville Wellington	7 years 7 years	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	86/318	Richard Knuckey, Father	15 February 1886	Rev. W. C. Oliver
31	15 February 1886	John George William Shelley Ellen Gallagher	John George William Shelley Ellen Gallagher 💍 1886/491	Bachelor Spinster	Boarding House Keeper	32 31	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	Registrars office	86/339		15 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr
32	15 February 1886	Johannes Alfred Hess Catherine Doneghue	Johannes Alfred Hess Catherine Donoghue 💍 1886/515	Bachelor Spinster	Violin String maker	28 18	Petone Petone	7 years 7 years	St. James, Lower Hutt	86/363	Catherine Williamson, mother	15 February 1886	Rev. E. I. Cross Clergyman
33	16 February 1886	Richard Mothes Catherine Amelia Valentine	Richard Mothes Katherine Amelia Valentine 💍 1886/463	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	34 20	Petone Petone	7 years 7 years	House of Mr. N. Valentine, Petone	86/324	Nathaniel Valentine, father	16 February 1886	Rev. John Muir Pres.
34	16 February 1886	Alfred Lynch Annie Catherine Longhurst	Alfred Lynch Annie Catherine Longhurst 💍 1886/492	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 19	Wellington Makara	7 years 7 years	Registrars office	86/340	Mary Humphrey, mother	16 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr
35	18 February 1886	George Harry Smith Lily Hanson	Geo Henry Smith Lily Hanson 💍 1886/1318	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	24 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	House of Mr. Smith, Constable Street	86/353		18 February 1886	Rev. J. J. Pendray United
36	20 February 1886	Arthur Moeller Louisa Robinson	Arthur Moeller Louisa Robinson 💍 1886/494	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	21 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	Registrars office	86/342		20 February 1886	W. T. Wyatt Regr

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).