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 565

District of Wairau 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
11	19 April 1886	Samuel Phillips Lois Stephenson	Samuel Phillips Lois Stephenson 💍 1886/1432	Widower Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	56 31	Blenheim Blenheim	30 Years 10 months	The House of Mr. James Laidlaw, Delta, Wairau	86/1316		19 April 1886	Revd. John Beauchamp
12	22 April 1886	John James Winsbury White Frances Louisa Powell	John James Winsbury White Frances Louisa Powell 💍 1886/3448	Bachelor Spinster	Government Official	41 27	Blenheim Mount Pleasant	21 years 4 months	The Church of St. John in the Wilderness, Waitohi Valley			22 April 1886	Revd. W. A. Whyte
13	4 April 1886	George Thomas Cheesman Edith Cornelia Hooster	George Thomas Cheesman Edith Cornelia Wooster 💍 1886/1433	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 22	Grose Town Blenheim	16 years 6 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	86/1317		4 April 1886	The Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
14	3 May 1886	John Dr. Malcolm Mary McKegney	John McMahon Mary McKegney 💍 1886/1439	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Charwoman	32 30	Blenheim Blenheim	10 years 10 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	86/1322		3 May 1886	Revd. Samuel Lewis
15	8 May 1886	Henry Joseph Avery Bridgel Deborah Norris	Henry Joseph Avery Bridget Deborah Norris 💍 1886/1440	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	26 27	Richmond Brook & Awatere Awatere	10 years 2 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	86/1323		8 May 1886	Revd. Samuel Lewis
16	4 May 1886	The Honorable William Joseph Hugh Clifford Kate Caroline Bassett	William Joseph Hugh Clifford Kate Caroline Bassett 💍 1886/1315	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	27 17	Vernon Wairau (Present Resident Lower Hutt, Wellington) Vernon Wairau	5 years 9 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt, Wellington	86/1325	Frederick Bassett, Father	4 May 1886	Revd. John F. Lane
17	19 April 1886	Arthur Labkar Eliza Georgina Bridgemore	Arthur Labkar Eliza Georgina Bridgemore 💍 1886/1434	Widower Divorced	Carpenter Dressmaker	39 26	Blenheim Blenheim	6 months 5 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	86/1318		19 April 1886	Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
18	9 June 1886	Charles Soroman Maria Fraill	Charles Sowman Maria Fraill 💍 1886/1435	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	22 21	Grose Road, Blenheim Grose Road, Blenheim	6 months 1 month	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	86/1319		9 June 1886	Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
19	16 June 1886	Thomas Cawte Margaret Boyce	Thomas Cawte Margaret Boyce 💍 1886/1438	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 19	Blenheim Renwick Town	1 year 6 years	The House of Mr. James Laidlaw, Delta, Wairau	86/1321	John Boyce, Father	16 June 1886	Revd. W. O. Roth
20	30 June 1886	William Joseph Berrill Ethel Mabel Lucy Beauchamp	William Joseph Berrill Ethel Mabel Lucy Beauchamp 💍 1886/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	27 19	Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 1 month	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	86/1254	Sarah Mary Teresa Beauchamp, Mother	30 June 1886	Revd. W. J. Lewis

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).