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 1277

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
236	1 October 1886	James Burke Elizabeth Sterling	James Burk Elizabeth Stirling 💍 1886/2853 James Barr Elizabeth Seay 💍 1886/1590 James Hart Elizabeth Melton 💍 1886/3201 James Parker Elizabeth Mary Belcher 💍 1886/1033 James Holden Elizabeth Bennie 💍 1886/2591 James Gardner Elizabeth Boulton 💍 1887/2619 James Lankey Elizabeth McCurdy 💍 1886/97 James O'Hara Elizabeth Martin 💍 1886/289 James King Elizabeth Anderson 💍 1886/3152 James Connell Elizabeth Price 💍 1886/887	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	86/2837		1 October 1886	Rev. W. C. Oliver
237	4 October 1886	Michael Carr Albina Brennan	Michael Carr Albina Brennan 💍 1886/2907	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 26	Wellington Wellington	3 months 1 week	St. Mary's Cathedral	86/2890		4 October 1886	Rev. John McNamara
238	4 October 1886	Orlando Inman Kempthorne Jessie Hay	Orlando Inman Kempthorne Jessie Hay 💍 1886/2867	Bachelor Spinster	Druggist	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	St. Peter's Church	86/2848		4 October 1886	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
239	6 October 1886	Florence O'Donoghue Mary Woods Coyne	Florence O'Donoghue Mary Woods Cosgrove 💍 1886/2877	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	86/2861	Margaret Coyne, mother	6 October 1886	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
240	9 October 1886	Robert Roberts Jane Carter	Robert Roberts Jane Carter 💍 1886/2876	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	86/2860		9 October 1886	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
241	9 October 1886	Henry Sunbeam Elizabeth Stevenson	Henry Sunbeam Elizabeth Stevenson 💍 1886/2896	Bachelor Widow	Labour	40 30	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	Rescue Home, Mangapiko Street	86/2880		9 October 1886	Rev. J. J. Penarey
242	13 October 1886	George Kemp Josephine Elizabeth Tucker	George Kemp Josephine Elizabeth Tocker 💍 1886/2887	Widower Spinster	Foreman	40 26	Wellington Lower Hutt	18 months years	House of Mr. Tucker, Lower Hutt	86/2847		13 October 1886	Rev. William Kirk
243	15 October 1886	Alfred George Coop Emma Sarah Ann Coom	Alfred George Toop Emma Coom 💍 1886/2872	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	22 21	Masterton Wellington	3 weeks 2 months	House of Mr. Coom, Taranaki Street	86/2856		15 October 1886	Mr. Samuel Costall
244	18 October 1886	Frank George Sydeman Mary Elizabeth Howe	Frank George Tyderman Mary Elizabeth Howe 💍 1886/2879	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	26 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	86/2862		18 October 1886	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
245	18 October 1886	Harry Adams Jessie Moorhouse	Harry Adams Jessie Moorhouse 💍 1886/2901	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	28 27	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks years	St. Paul's Cathedral	86/2885		18 October 1886	Rev. John Still
246	18 October 1886	Thomas Francis Grey Mary Ready	Thomas Francis Grey Mary Ready 💍 1886/2880	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	86/2863		18 October 1886	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
247	18 October 1886	William Robert Swother Margaret Jane Bowler	William Robert Trotter Margaret Jane Bowler 💍 1886/2849	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 20	Makara Makara	years years	Church of St. Matthias, Makara	86/2833	Elizabeth Bowler, mother	18 October 1886	Rev. Alexander Dissent

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).