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 652

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1886 Registrar H. R. Lee

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

10 June 1886

Matthew Mitchell
Janet Bowis

Matthew Mitchell
Janet Borris
💍 1886/1612

Widower
Spinster

Engine driver

37
18

Doyleston
Doyleston

3 years
10 years

At the house of Henrietta Baird at Doyleston

86/1546

Henrietta Baird (formerly Baird), mother

10 June 1886

Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan of Leeston

No	10
Date of Notice	10 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Mitchell	Janet Bowis
BDM Match (92%)	Matthew Mitchell	Janet Borris
	💍 1886/1612
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver
Age	37	18
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Doyleston
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Henrietta Baird at Doyleston
Folio	86/1546
Consent	Henrietta Baird (formerly Baird), mother
Date of Certificate	10 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Standage, Wesleyan of Leeston

11 June 1886

William John Baxter
Florence Esther Blake

William John Baxter
Florence Esther Blake
💍 1886/1614

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Brookside
Brookside

16 years
3 years

At the house of William Baxter at Brookside

86/1548

11 June 1886

Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

No	11
Date of Notice	11 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Baxter	Florence Esther Blake
	💍 1886/1614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of William Baxter at Brookside
Folio	86/1548
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

12 June 1886

James McFrossen
Elizabeth Mary Welsh

James McCrossen
Elizabeth Mary Welsh
💍 1886/1607

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
22

Southbridge
Southbridge

6 years
6 months

In the Roman Catholic Chapel at Southbridge

86/1542

12 June 1886

Rev. F. Cherrier, Roman Catholic of Lincoln

No	12
Date of Notice	12 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McFrossen	Elizabeth Mary Welsh
BDM Match (97%)	James McCrossen	Elizabeth Mary Welsh
	💍 1886/1607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel at Southbridge
Folio	86/1542
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Cherrier, Roman Catholic of Lincoln

13 June 1886

Thomas Miller
Eliza Williams

Thomas McMillan
Eliza Williams
💍 1886/2315

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Char woman

32
34

Southbridge
Southbridge

4 years
7 years

At the house of Eliza Williams at Southbridge

86/2284

13 June 1886

Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

No	13
Date of Notice	13 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Miller	Eliza Williams
BDM Match (87%)	Thomas McMillan	Eliza Williams
	💍 1886/2315
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Char woman
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Eliza Williams at Southbridge
Folio	86/2284
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

14 June 1886

Samuel Barratt Wickliffe
Catherine Hayes

Samuel Barnett Wickliffe
Catherine Hayes
💍 1886/1615

Widower
Widow

Labourer

43
35

Southbridge
Southbridge

20 years
10 years

At the house of Catherine Hayes at Southbridge

86/1549

14 June 1886

Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

No	14
Date of Notice	14 June 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Barratt Wickliffe	Catherine Hayes
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Barnett Wickliffe	Catherine Hayes
	💍 1886/1615
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	35
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Catherine Hayes at Southbridge
Folio	86/1549
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. William West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).