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 1271

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1886 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

9 October 1886

William Henry Cooper
Ellen Collins

William Henry Cowper
Ellen Collins
💍 1886/2861

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
8 years

At the office of the Registrar Palmerston N.

86/2821

Edward Collins Father

27 October 1886

Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

No	95
Date of Notice	9 October 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cooper	Ellen Collins
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Cowper	Ellen Collins
	💍 1886/2861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Palmerston N.
Folio	86/2821
Consent	Edward Collins Father
Date of Certificate	27 October 1886
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

8 November 1886

William Charles Gavin
Nikolina Clausen

William Charles Gavin
Nikolina Clausen
💍 1886/2865

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dressmaker

26 years
23 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

Lutheran Church

86/2826

10 November 1886

Revd G. M. Dass Lutheran Minister Palmerston North

No	96
Date of Notice	8 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Gavin	Nikolina Clausen
	💍 1886/2865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dressmaker
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church
Folio	86/2826
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Revd G. M. Dass Lutheran Minister Palmerston North

23 December 1886

Ludwig Martin Williamson
Harriet Beatrice Moss

Ludwig Martin Williamsen
Harriett Beatrice Moss
💍 1886/3469

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

25 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
1 year

At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North

86/2823

Mary Ann Duff Mother

24 December 1886

Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

No	97
Date of Notice	23 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludwig Martin Williamson	Harriet Beatrice Moss
BDM Match (96%)	Ludwig Martin Williamsen	Harriett Beatrice Moss
	💍 1886/3469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	25 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North
Folio	86/2823
Consent	Mary Ann Duff Mother
Date of Certificate	24 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

23 December 1886

Sidney Joseph Young Watson
Annie Ellen Nash

Sidney I Y Watson
Anne Ellen Nash
💍 1886/2866

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22 years
23 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church

86/2827

David Watson Father

23 December 1886

Revd A. M. Wright Presbyterian Minister Palmerston North

No	98
Date of Notice	23 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Joseph Young Watson	Annie Ellen Nash
BDM Match (78%)	Sidney I Y Watson	Anne Ellen Nash
	💍 1886/2866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	86/2827
Consent	David Watson Father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Revd A. M. Wright Presbyterian Minister Palmerston North

23 December 1886

Frederick Geilke
Mary Ann Gaskin

Frederick Gerke
Mary Ann Gaskin
💍 1886/2862

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
20 years

Palmerston North
Stoney Creek

12 years
10 months

At the office of the Registrar Palmerston N.

86/2822

John Gaskin Father

23 December 1886

Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

No	99
Date of Notice	23 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Geilke	Mary Ann Gaskin
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Gerke	Mary Ann Gaskin
	💍 1886/2862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Stoney Creek
Length of Residence	12 years	10 months
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Palmerston N.
Folio	86/2822
Consent	John Gaskin Father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

100

29 December 1886

John George Rush
Catherine Francis Mann
formerly Buss

John George Rush
Catherine Francis
💍 1886/2863

Widower
Widow

No occupation

58 years
47 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
7 years

At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North

86/2824

29 December 1886

Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

No	100
Date of Notice	29 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Rush	Catherine Francis Mann formerly Buss
BDM Match (89%)	John George Rush	Catherine Francis
	💍 1886/2863
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	No occupation
Age	58 years	47 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar Palmerston North
Folio	86/2824
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling Registrar Palmerston North

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).