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 143

District of Masterton 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
1	18 January 1886	William Louttet Falconer Alice Sarah Catt	William Louttit Falconer Alice Sarah Catt 💍 1886/540	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 20	Upper Plain Upper Plain	6 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church, Masterton	86/1388	John Catt, father	18 January 1886	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
2	19 January 1886	James Rogers Amy Elizabeth Elgie	James Rogers Amy Elizabeth Elgie 💍 1886/509	Widower Widow	Laborer Dressmaker	28 26	Masterton Masterton	1 year 3 months 3 years	House of Mr William Darley	86/1380		19 January 1886	Rev Josiah Ward, Primitive Methodist
3	30 January 1886	Henry King Rosetta Mannering	Henry King Mary Rosetta Mannering 💍 1886/513	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 17	Pahiatua Eketahuna	4 years 3 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	86/1384	Benjamin Knight, father	30 January 1886	Deputy Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages
4	8 February 1886	William McKenzie Mary Shaw	William McKenzie Mary Shaw 💍 1886/541	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Masterton Te Ore Ore Masterton	10 days 4 years	House of Mr Francis Shaw Te Ore Ore Masterton	86/1389		8 February 1886	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
5	11 February 1886	George Daysh Mary Allen	George Dayoh Mary Allen 💍 1886/542	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Ohake Lower Manaia Masterton	2 years 2 years	House of Mr Robert Allen Lower Manaia Masterton	86/1390		11 February 1886	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
6	19 February 1886	William Cross Rosa Minnie Smith	William Cross Rosa Minnie Smith 💍 1886/521	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer	42 16	Alfredton Alfredton	16 years 6 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	86/1385	Eli Smith, father	19 February 1886	Deputy Registrar of Marriages
7	19 February 1886	Robert McCullough Maria Stelin	Robert McCullagh Maria Stelin 💍 1886/532	Bachelor Widow	Laborer Dressmaker	41 31	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	86/1386		19 February 1886	Deputy Registrar of Marriages
8	19 February 1886	Archibald Martin Junior Mary Davidson	Archibald Martin Junr Mary Davidson 💍 1886/511	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	33 21	Masterton Masterton	3 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Chapel Masterton	86/1382		19 February 1886	Rev Patrick Tracey, Roman Catholic Priest
9	23 February 1886	Jacob Manson Caroline Syversen	Jacob Manson Caroline Syversen 💍 1886/539	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	33 20	Pahiatua Eketahuna	3 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	86/1387	Bent Syversen, father	23 February 1886	Deputy Registrar of Marriages
10	25 February 1886	Stephan Kris Petersen Maren Catherine Louise Julian Christensen	Ole Johan Friis Petersen Karen Cathrine Louise Juliane Christensen 💍 1886/506	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 18	Dreyerton Dreyerton	3 weeks 2 weeks	Lutheran Church Mauriceville	86/1318	Peter Sophus Christensen, father	25 February 1886	George Brock Sass, Lutheran Minister

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).