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 529

District of Masterton 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
16	14 April 1886	Robert Store Macdonald Mary Jane Cameron Whachlan	Robert Sloss Macdonald Mary Jane Cameron McLachlan 💍 1886/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	26 20	Opaki Opaki	6 Months 3 years	House of Mr John Whachlan Opaki	86/1266	Florence U-phu, Mother	14 April 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
17	14 April 1886	Jacob Johnson Ada Parker	Jacob Johnson Ada Parker 💍 1886/1383	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 17	Masterton Masterton	5 Months 6 Days	House of Mr Johnson	86/1267	Catherine Parker, Father	14 April 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
18	19 April 1886	Thomas Miller Mary Ellison	Thomas Miller Mary Ellison 💍 1886/1379	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	22 21	Masterton Masterton	4 Months 1 Month	Office of Registrar	86/1263		19 April 1886	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
19	24 April 1886	Journer Praske Antonia Taucher	Jorgen Jensen Paaske Antonia Taucher 💍 1886/1380	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	28 24	Masterton Masterton	5 years 9 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	86/1264		24 April 1886	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
20	27 April 1886	Albert Thomas Colley Jane Anne Martin	Albert Silvanous Collyer Jane Anne Martin 💍 1886/1384	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 23	Masterton Opaki Masterton	3 days 8 years	House of Mr Albert Martin	86/1268		27 April 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
21	27 April 1886	John Kay Sarah Russell	John Kay Sarah Russell 💍 1886/1385	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker	22 22	Masterton Masterton	2 years 3 years	House of Mr Samuel James Russell Kuripuni	[illegible]		27 April 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
22	1 June 1886	Donald John Cameron Anna Robina Woodroofe	Donald John Cameron Anna Robina Woodroofe 💍 1886/1387	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Masterton Masterton	4 years 25 years	House of Mr William Woodroofe	86/1270		1 June 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
23	10 June 1886	John Quigley Alice Jeanette Parker	John Quigley Alice Jeanette Parker 💍 1886/1388	Widower Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	45 38	Masterton Masterton	8 years 4 years	House of Mr Michael Odornell Makorokoro	86/1271		10 June 1886	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian
24	11 June 1886	Henry Frederick Steffens Mary Haftka	Henry F Steffens Mary Haftka 💍 1886/1381	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 21	Masterton Masterton	3 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	86/1265		11 June 1886	Rev. Patrick Treacy, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).