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 936

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
66	6 August 1886	Frederick Fordham Ellen Emily Brooks	Frederick William Needham Ellen Emily Moore 💍 1886/2163	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 31	Napier Napier	2 years 2 years	St John's Church	86/2124		24 August 1886	Rev De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
67	6 August 1886	Michael Walsh Johanna Ryan	Michael Walsh Johanna Noonan 💍 1886/2167	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer General Servant	28 24	Greymouth Greymouth	3 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	86/2138		25 August 1886	Father Yardin, R.C. Priest
68	6 August 1886	Edward Houseman Anne Higgins	Edward Houseman Annie Higgins 💍 1886/2174	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	25 23	Napier Napier	1 year 1 year	St John's Church	86/2127		31 August 1886	Rev De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
69	6 September 1886	Alexander Gorman Margaret Mary O'Sullivan	Alexander Harmon Margaret M O'Sullivan 💍 1886/2186	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	29 28	Napier Napier	3 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	86/2133		1 September 1886	Rev Father Grogan, R.C. Priest
70	6 September 1886	Richard Thomas Walker Amy Allom	Richard Thomas Walker Amy Charlotte Allom 💍 1886/1979	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	32 28	Napier Thames	8 years 16 years	Holy Trinity Church, Thames	Thames 1946		4 September 1886	Rev William Calder, English Church
71	6 September 1886	John Murphy Elizabeth Mary Halloran	John Murphy Elizabeth Mary Joseph O'Halloran 💍 1886/2168	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Taradale Taradale	8 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Chapel	86/2139	Joseph O'Halloran, Father	15 September 1886	Father Yardin, R.C. Priest

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).