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 1279

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
260	4 November 1886	Philip Jemo Mary Wood Thorum	Philip Juno Mary Wood Thoburn 💍 1886/2928	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 26	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	14 days 2 months	Registrars Office Wellington	86/2894		4 November 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
261	8 November 1886	Thomas William Lewis Hannah Mary Lancaster	Thomas William Lewer Hannah Mary Lancaster 💍 1886/2850	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 20	Karori Karori	years years	St. Mary's Church Karori	86/2834	Stephen Lancaster, Father	8 November 1886	Revd. A. D. Grace, C of E
262	8 November 1886	William Down Margaret Simmons	William Dawn Margaret Simmons 💍 1886/2857	Widower Spinster	Letter Carrier	49 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church Taranaki Street	86/2840		8 November 1886	Revd. W. C. Oliver, Wes
263	10 November 1886	William Greenwood Eliza Bartick Weekie	William Greenwood Eliza Bentick Wilkie 💍 1886/2899	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	29 45	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	House of Mr. Copeland Lower Hutt	86/2883		10 November 1886	Revd. T. D. Rodger, Pres
264	12 November 1886	Thomas Kennedy Clarice Scarff	Thomas Kennedy Clarie Scarff 💍 1886/2902	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	86/2886		12 November 1886	Revd. John Still, C of E
265	15 November 1886	Charles Frank Maitland Christina Bowater	Charles Frank Maitland Masters Christina Bowater 💍 1886/2892	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 20	Wellington Wellington	years 9 months	Registrars Office Wellington	86/2868	No relation in Colony	29 November 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr
266	15 November 1886	William Richard Hotine Lilian Elizabeth Drew	William Richard Holmes Lilian Elizabeth Drew 💍 1886/2916	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	28 21	Island Bay Taita	years years	Christ Church Taita	86/2876		15 November 1886	Revd. Joshua Jones, C of E
267	15 November 1886	Edward Joseph Linefic Elizabeth McMillan	Edward Josiah Minifie Elizabeth McMillan 💍 1886/2891	Bachelor Spinster	Paper Hanger	28 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church Webb Street	86/2857	Thomas McMillan, father	15 November 1886	Revd. W. S. Potter, Prim
268	15 November 1886	William Malin Sarah Kate Mann	William Malin Sarah Kate Mann 💍 1886/2893	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	86/2877	Elizabeth Mann, mother	15 November 1886	Revd. R. Coffey, C of E
269	16 November 1886	Francis John Mountain Emma Jane Hebley	Francis John Mountain Emma Jane Hebley 💍 1886/2897	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	19 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Residence of Revd. J. J. Pendray College Street	86/2881	Frank Mountain, Father; Matthew Hebley, Father	16 November 1886	Revd. J. J. Pendray, United
270	17 November 1886	Hugh Montgomery Frances Isabella Mitchell	Hugh Montgomery Frances Isabella Mitchell 💍 1886/2847	Bachelor Spinster	Banker	30 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days 14 days	House of Mr. Mitchell Pipitea Street	86/2831	William Mitchell, Father	17 November 1886	Revd. C. S. Ogg, Pres
271	17 November 1886	John McMaster Stewart Sigrid Johanne Mork	John McMaster Stewart Segrid Johanne Mork 💍 1886/2882	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	86/2865	Sofie Jensen, Mother	17 November 1886	W. T. Wyatt, Regr

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).