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 898

District of Wellington 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
203	30 August 1886	John Hill Hunter Jack Wilhelmina Sale Chisholm	John Hill Hunter Jack Wilhelmina Tait Chisholm 💍 1886/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	29 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Andrews Church	86/12020		30 August 1886	Revd. C. G. Fox
204	31 August 1886	William Reid Douglas Isabella Nahr	William Reid Douglas Isabella Nahr 💍 1886/2583	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days 8 days	St. Johns Church	86/12565	William Nahr, father	31 August 1886	Revd. J. Paterson
205	2 September 1886	James Wyman Harriet Jarvis Aston	James Wyman Harriet Jarvis Aston 💍 1886/2095	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	86/2064		2 September 1886	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
206	3 September 1886	James Watkins Jane Adams	James Watkins Jane Adams 💍 1886/2030	Widower Widow	Settler	52 52	Wellington Wanganui	2 months years	Episcopal Church, Wanganui	86/1998		3 September 1886	Revd. J. L. Judson
207	3 September 1886	Robert Scott Ford Edith Plimmer	Robert Scott Edith Plimmer 💍 1886/2086	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	27 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. W. Plimmer, Majoribanks Street	86/2030	William Plimmer, father	3 September 1886	Revd. J. G. Pencenay, Minister
208	6 September 1886	Ole Nikolai Pedersen Ellen Gorling	Ole Nekolai Pedersen Ellen Gosling 💍 1886/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 22	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr. Gorling, Lower Hutt	86/2075		6 September 1886	Revd. D. J. Murray
209	6 September 1886	Hammond Lawson Janette Elizabeth Sutcliffe	Hammond Lawson Janette Elizabeth Sutcliffe 💍 1886/2096	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	86/2065		6 September 1886	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
210	8 September 1886	Walter Henry Patterson Amy Bell	Walter Henry Patterson Amy Bell 💍 1886/2077	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	32 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	86/2027	Emily Bell, mother	8 September 1886	Revd. R. Coffey
211	8 September 1886	Henry Carter Sarah Ann Holden	Henry Carter Sarah Ann Holden 💍 1886/2066	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 year	St. Marks Church	86/2028		8 September 1886	Revd. R. Coffey
212	8 September 1886	Frederick John Barnes Hannah Willis	Frederick John Barnett Hannah Willis 💍 1886/2087	Widower Widow	Carpenter	42 48	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd. J. G. Pencenay	86/2031		8 September 1886	Revd. J. G. Pencenay, Minister
213	9 September 1886	Richard Hugh Bishop Marie Adams	Richard Hugh Bishop Marie Adams 💍 1886/2584	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 months 10 months	The Manse, Woolcombe Street	86/12566		9 September 1886	Revd. J. Paterson
214	9 September 1886	William Septon Patten Eleanor Philipina Clark	William Sifton Patten Eleanor Philipina Clark 💍 1886/2100	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Edwards, Majoribanks Street	86/2069	John Clark, father	9 September 1886	Revd. J. K. Elliott

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).