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 880

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 September 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
12	13 July 1886	Henry Arthur Mainwaring Mary Ann Amelia Death	Henry Arthur Mainwaring Mary Ann Amelia Death 💍 1886/2062	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Cliff Live Cliff Live	2 years 12 [illegible]	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	86/2006	13 July 1886	F. M. Deighton, Registrar
13	14 July 1886	Thomas Gilbrick Dowling Agnes Curtis Bareford	Thomas Frederick Dowling Agnes Letitia Worsfold 💍 1886/2064	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Dressmaker	29 26	Bulls Bulls	18 months 3 years	House of Mr. Miniford, Bulls	86/2008	14 July 1886	Revd. J. Boull, Pres
14	21 July 1886	James Aiken Mary Weston	James Aiken Mary Weston 💍 1886/2521	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 20	Upper Rangitikei Upper Rangitikei	20 years 19 years	Presbyterian Church, Upper Sandon	86/2484	21 July 1886	Revd. D. Gordon, Pres
15	26 July 1886	John Charles Morgan Janet Agnes Cameron	John Charles Morgan Janet Agnes Cameron 💍 1886/2060	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 23	Turakina Turakina Valley	3 months 29 years	House of Mr. Archibald Cameron, Turakina Valley	86/2004	26 July 1886	Revd. C. Kirk, RG
16	9 August 1886	James Alexander Daley Edith Grant Dommett	James Alexander Duley Edith Grant Dommett 💍 1886/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	23 20	Hunterville Marton	5 months 1 year	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	86/2009	9 August 1886	Revd. A. Lovegood, Coff
17	10 September 1886	John Duncan Cameron Mary Bridget Cameron	John Duncan Cameron Balmer Mary Bridget Cameron 💍 1886/2061	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	22 25	Turakina Turakina	11 years 25 [illegible]	Catholic Church, Turakina	86/2005	10 September 1886	Revd. C. Kirk, RG
18	14 September 1886	James Hyde Eliza Roe	James Hyde Eliza Roe 💍 1886/2063	Widower Spinster	Farmer	35 32	Upper Sandon Upper Sandon	5 years 4 months	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	86/2007	14 September 1886	F. M. Deighton, Registrar

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).