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 521

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
142	15 June 1886	Ernest George Dixon Beatrice Elizabeth Richardson	Ernest George Dixon Beatrice Elizabeth Richardson 💍 1886/111	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Geo. G. Richardson, Nairn Street	86/1208		15 June 1886	Rev. W. J. Potter
143	16 June 1886	Frank Lowsley Barbara Holyman	Frank Loasby Barbara Hannah Holzman 💍 1886/1314	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	22 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	86/1234	No Relation in Colony	30 June 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
144	17 June 1886	Arthur Leavers Isabella Hebbly	Arthur Leevers Isabella Hebley 💍 1886/112 Arthur Reynolds Isabella Reid 💍 1886/2226	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Tory Street	86/1209		17 June 1886	Rev. W. J. Potter
145	19 June 1886	Walter Hill Emily Elizabeth Bentley	Walter Hill Emily Elizabeth Bentley 💍 1886/1310	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	26 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	86/1230	John Bentley, Father	19 June 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
146	21 June 1886	William Baker Caroline Mary Brown	William Baker Caroline Mary Brown 💍 1886/2578 William Seager Louisa Brown 💍 1886/1063	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 months	House of Geo. J. Valentine, Banks Terrace	86/1256		21 June 1886	Rev. J. Paterson
147	22 June 1886	James Henry Moody Alice Southly Freebody	James Henry Woody Alice Southly Freebody 💍 1886/1312	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars office, Wellington	86/1232		22 June 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
148	22 June 1886	George Broadbent Emma Pelling	George Broadbent Emma Pelling 💍 1886/1306	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	31 22	Wellington Wellington	years 2 Weeks	House of Mr Broadbent, Windsor Place	86/1244		22 June 1886	Rev. W. H. West
149	26 June 1886	Patrick Carmody Norah Branahan	Patrick Carmody Norah Brosnahan 💍 1886/1302	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	86/1244		26 June 1886	Rev. P. Kerrigan
150	29 June 1886	James Neville Isabella Wilhelmina Thomson	James Neville Isabella Whitelaw Thomson 💍 1886/2050	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	30 32	Wellington Wellington	14 days 3 days	St. Andrews	86/1201		29 June 1886	Rev. W. J. Potter
151	29 June 1886	Joseph Hitchens Mary Ann Minnifie	Joseph Hitchens Mary Ann Minifie 💍 1886/2092	Widower Widow	Butcher	56 63	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Geo. Wilton, Adelaide Road	86/1206		29 June 1886	Rev. W. J. Potter
152	29 June 1886	William Richard Beard Nellie Jury	William Richard Beard Nellie Jury 💍 1886/1313	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	21 22	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	Registrars office, Wellington	86/1233		29 June 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
153	30 June 1886	George Greenwood Eliza Rachel Gregory	George Greenwood Eliza Rachel Gregory 💍 1886/2054	Widower Spinster	Factory Hand	30 28	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 16 months	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/1202		30 June 1886	Rev. John Still

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).