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 934

District of Napier 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
49	2 July 1886	Edward Climants Collins Fanny Edith Inform	Edward Clements Collins Fanny Edith Ingpen 💍 1886/2149	Bachelor Spinster	Druggist	24 21	Napier Napier	3 Months 10 years	St. John's Church, Napier	86/2120		5 July 1886	Revd. Burdett Horrell, Church of England
50	9 July 1886	Charles Richard Stevens Eliza Watson	Charles Richard Stevens Eliza Watson 💍 1886/2151	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	24 23	Napier Napier	9 years 9 years	St. John's Church, Napier	86/2121		9 July 1886	Revd. Burdett Horrell, Church of England
51	8 July 1886	Augustus Durney Rebecca Maria Price	Augustus Durney Rebecca Maria Price 💍 1886/2169	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	21 20	Napier Napier	11 years 2 years	R.C. Chapel, Napier	86/2140	Ann Price the mother, Widow	8 July 1886	Father Grogan, R.C. Priest
52	12 July 1886	William John German Ann Frances Beriston		Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	31 25	Napier Napier	2 Months 1 Month	St. John's Church, Napier	86/2122		12 July 1886	Revd. Burdett Horrell, Church of England
53	20 July 1886	John Swan Watson Cecilia Grant Scott	John Swan Watson Ciscelia Grant Scott 💍 1886/2146	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer General Servant	30 21	Kumeroa Napier	2 years 2 years	Residence of Mr. J. Paterson, Napier	86/2141		20 July 1886	Revd. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
54	27 July 1886	Michael Ryan Harriet Margaret Norman	Michael Ryan Elizabeth Oetgen 💍 1886/2870	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	26 21	Napier Havelock	12 Months 9 Months	St. John's Church, Napier			27 July 1886	Revd. Burdett Horrell, Church of England
55	31 July 1886	James Gilbey Emma Church	James Gilbey Emma Church 💍 1886/2153	Bachelor Widow	Coachman Domestic	36 42	Clive Clive	18 Months 16 Months	St. John's Church, Clive	86/2123		31 July 1886	Revd. Burdett Horrell, Church of England
56	31 July 1886	John Dunn Ellen Bergan	John Dunne Ellen Bergan 💍 1886/2164	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Cook	41 42	Napier Napier	15 Years 1 Month	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier	86/2135		31 July 1886	S. I. Iago, Registrar
57	9 August 1886	James George Barritt Emma Jane Arnold	James George Barrett Emma Jane Arnold 💍 1886/2165	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Shunter Cook	25 21	Napier Napier	11 Months 8 Months	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	86/2136		9 August 1886	S. I. Iago, Registrar

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).