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 894

District of Wellington Quarter ending 20 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
155	2 July 1886	Joseph William Chapman Helen Hurley	Joseph William Chapman Helen Hurley 💍 1886/2523	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 25	Johnsonville Wellington	years 1 month	St Marys Cathedral	86/12489		2 July 1886	Rev. John McNamara Regr
156	3 July 1886	George Benson Eleanor Clark	George Benson Eleanor Clark 💍 1886/2088	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer	26 26	Wellington Wellington	12 months 18 months	Registrars office Wellington	86/2032		3 July 1886	Mr. T. Wyatt Regr
157	5 July 1886	Alfred Harris Christina Lydia Davis	Alfred Harris Christina Lydia Davis 💍 1886/2114	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr W. S. Potter Webb Street	86/2060	Mary Ann Davis mother	5 July 1886	Rev. W. S. Potter
158	5 July 1886	Charles Hayward Syand Stella Margaret Halsted	Charles Hayward Izard Stella Margaret Halsted 💍 1886/2055	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years 1 week	St Pauls Cathedral	86/2022		5 July 1886	Rev. John Still Corp
159	5 July 1886	William Francis Gallop Margaret Boyle	William Francis Gallop Margaret Boyle 💍 1886/2579	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	33 24	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	House of Mr Joseph Avery Buckle Street	86/12561		5 July 1886	Rev. J. Paterson Pres
160	5 July 1886	Frederick Dowsett Gertrude Catherine Allington	Frederick Dowsett Gertrude Catherine Allington 💍 1886/2111	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom Tmakori Road	86/2054	Henry Allington father	5 July 1886	Mr J. F. Floyd Ch of En
161	10 July 1886	Samuel Chapman Charlotte Maria Hobbs	Samuel Chapman Charlotte Maria Hobbs 💍 1886/3358	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	29 19	Johnsonville Khandallah	years years	House of Mr D. V. Hobbs Khandallah	86/13409	Dominick Valentine Hobbs father	10 July 1886	Rev. L. M. Isitt Mes
162	12 July 1886	Richard Allen Elizabeth Mackintosh	Richard Allen Elizabeth Mackintosh 💍 1886/3465	Widower Widow	Clerk	56 49	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom Grainger Street	86/2056		12 July 1886	Mr J. F. Floyd Ch of En
163	12 July 1886	Michael Flaherty Mary O'Connor	Michael Flaherty Mary O'Connor 💍 1886/2085	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	34 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. J. J. Tendray College Street	86/2029		12 July 1886	Rev. J. J. Tendray United
164	13 July 1886	Thomas Howard Elizabeth Dogan	Thomas Howard Elizabeth Doogan 💍 1886/2524	Bachelor Spinster	Constable A. C.	30 24	Wellington Wellington	12 months years	St Marys Cathedral	86/2490		13 July 1886	Rev. John McNamara Regr
165	14 July 1886	William Everest Annie Jackson	William Everest Annie Jackson 💍 1886/2587	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	24 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. L. M. Isitt Taranaki Street	86/12569		14 July 1886	Rev. L. M. Isitt Mes
166	14 July 1886	Frederick William Weaver Frances Elizabeth Lord	Frederick William Weaver Frances Elizabeth Lord 💍 1886/2089	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	86/2033		14 July 1886	Mr W. T. Wyatt Regr

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).