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 1153

District of Wangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1886 Registrar Charles Storey

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

212

20 October 1886

Hugh Wallace
Harriet Emma Moore

Hugh Wallace
Harriet Emma Moore
💍 1886/2613

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

35
21

Auckland
Wangarei

2 years Residence of
1 month Enloore Opan Wangarei

Auckland

86/2596

20 October 1886

Rev L L Cubitt, Episcopalian

No	212
Date of Notice	20 October 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Wallace	Harriet Emma Moore
	💍 1886/2613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wangarei
Length of Residence	2 years Residence of	1 month Enloore Opan Wangarei
Marriage Place	Auckland
Folio	86/2596
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev L L Cubitt, Episcopalian

213

2 November 1886

John Holland
Nuhana Mahine Pua

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

42
42

Ngunguru Wangarei
Ngunguru Wangarei

2 years Residence of
2 years Rev Alexander Whareumu Wangarei

Rev Alexander Whareumu Wangarei

2 November 1886

Episcopalian

No	213
Date of Notice	2 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Holland	Nuhana Mahine Pua
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Ngunguru Wangarei	Ngunguru Wangarei
Length of Residence	2 years Residence of	2 years Rev Alexander Whareumu Wangarei
Marriage Place	Rev Alexander Whareumu Wangarei
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Episcopalian

214

13 December 1886

William Hall Palmer
Jane Price

William Hall Palmer
Jane Grice
💍 1886/2611

Widower
Spinster

Hatchmaker

44
39

Wangarei
Wangarei

2 1/2 years Wesleyan
3 years Church Wangarei

Wesleyan

86/2594

13 December 1886

Rev I Duke, Wesleyan

No	214
Date of Notice	13 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hall Palmer	Jane Price
BDM Match (95%)	William Hall Palmer	Jane Grice
	💍 1886/2611
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hatchmaker
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Wangarei	Wangarei
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years Wesleyan	3 years Church Wangarei
Marriage Place	Wesleyan
Folio	86/2594
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev I Duke, Wesleyan

215

13 December 1886

Harry Weaves
Maria McPhee

Harry Weaver
Maria McPhee
💍 1886/2615

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
19

Opuawhanga Wangarei
Kaurihohore Wangarei

4 years Residence of
19 years Euphemia McPhee Kaurihohore Wangarei

Euphemia McPhee Kaurihohore Wangarei

86/2597

Euphemia McPhee, Mother

13 December 1886

Rev L L Cubitt, Episcopalian

No	215
Date of Notice	13 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Weaves	Maria McPhee
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Weaver	Maria McPhee
	💍 1886/2615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Opuawhanga Wangarei	Kaurihohore Wangarei
Length of Residence	4 years Residence of	19 years Euphemia McPhee Kaurihohore Wangarei
Marriage Place	Euphemia McPhee Kaurihohore Wangarei
Folio	86/2597
Consent	Euphemia McPhee, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev L L Cubitt, Episcopalian

216

22 December 1886

James Hilson
Hannah Campbell

James Wilson
Hannah Campbell
💍 1886/2612

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

24
20

Opuawhanga Wangarei
Opuawhanga Wangarei

8 years Office of Wangarei
5 years the Registrar Wangarei

Office of the Registrar Wangarei

86/2595

Hannah Campbell, Mother

22 December 1886

C Storey, Registrar Wangarei

No	216
Date of Notice	22 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hilson	Hannah Campbell
BDM Match (96%)	James Wilson	Hannah Campbell
	💍 1886/2612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Opuawhanga Wangarei	Opuawhanga Wangarei
Length of Residence	8 years Office of Wangarei	5 years the Registrar Wangarei
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Wangarei
Folio	86/2595
Consent	Hannah Campbell, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 December 1886
Officiating Minister	C Storey, Registrar Wangarei

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).