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 976

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 September 1886 Registrar J. Shrimpton

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

1022

6 July 1886

Arthur Reynolds
Isabella Reid

Arthur Reynolds
Isabella Reid
💍 1886/2226

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Builder
Domestic

26
19

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church

86/2197

Mr Reid, Father

7 July 1886

Rev W Douglas

No	1022
Date of Notice	6 July 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reynolds	Isabella Reid
	💍 1886/2226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Builder	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	86/2197
Consent	Mr Reid, Father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev W Douglas

1023

10 July 1886

John O'Donoghue
Mary Cronin

John ODonoghue
Mary Cronin
💍 1886/2514

Bachelor
Spinster

Mine Hand
Domestic

33
25

Humphreys
Hokitika

8 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church

86/2196

20 July 1886

Rev Father Martin

No	1023
Date of Notice	10 July 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Donoghue	Mary Cronin
BDM Match (97%)	John ODonoghue	Mary Cronin
	💍 1886/2514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mine Hand	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Humphreys	Hokitika
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	86/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Martin

1024

3 August 1886

Conrad Christian August Wilkening
Annie Catherine Turner

Conrad Christian August Willkening
Anne Catharine Turner
💍 1886/2238

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

31
22

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 days
11 years

All Saints, Hokitika

86/2210

10 August 1886

Rev H G Goned

No	1024
Date of Notice	3 August 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conrad Christian August Wilkening	Annie Catherine Turner
BDM Match (94%)	Conrad Christian August Willkening	Anne Catharine Turner
	💍 1886/2238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 days	11 years
Marriage Place	All Saints, Hokitika
Folio	86/2210
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev H G Goned

1025

20 August 1886

John Buchanan Fitzgerald
Mary Ann Huntley

John Buchanan Fitzgerald
Mary Ann Huntley
💍 1886/2229

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Domestic

55
41

Rimu
Rimu

4 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

86/2200

20 August 1886

J Shrimpton, Registrar

No	1025
Date of Notice	20 August 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Buchanan Fitzgerald	Mary Ann Huntley
	💍 1886/2229
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	55	41
Dwelling Place	Rimu	Rimu
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika
Folio	86/2200
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1886
Officiating Minister	J Shrimpton, Registrar

1026

30 August 1886

Samuel Hogan
Janet Agnes Lennie

Samuel Wogan
Janet Agnes Lennie
💍 1886/2227

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Dressmaker

25
22

Hokitika
Hokitika

20 years
15 years

Presbyterian Church

86/2198

30 August 1886

Rev W Douglas

No	1026
Date of Notice	30 August 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Hogan	Janet Agnes Lennie
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Wogan	Janet Agnes Lennie
	💍 1886/2227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Dressmaker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	20 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	86/2198
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev W Douglas

1027

13 September 1886

William James Gow
Jane Taylor

William James Gow
Jane Taylor
💍 1886/2228

William Elwood Smith
Annie Taylor
💍 1886/2616

Bachelor
Spinster

Clergyman
none

34
30

Hokitika
Hokitika

6 days
9 days

Private residence of W.W. Duncan

86/2199

13 September 1886

Rev W Douglas

No	1027
Date of Notice	13 September 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Gow	Jane Taylor
	💍 1886/2228
BDM Match (60%)	William Elwood Smith	Annie Taylor
	💍 1886/2616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clergyman	none
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	6 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of W.W. Duncan
Folio	86/2199
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev W Douglas

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).