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 1319

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1886 Registrar J. S. Large

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

100

23 November 1886

Borthwick Haliburton
Isabella Lowe

Borthwick Haliburtan
Isabella Lowe
💍 1886/3365

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

35
33

Napier
Napier

6 years
4 days

Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier

86/12924

22 November 1886

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

No	100
Date of Notice	23 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Borthwick Haliburton	Isabella Lowe
BDM Match (98%)	Borthwick Haliburtan	Isabella Lowe
	💍 1886/3365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	86/12924
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

101

23 November 1886

John Finlay
Georgina Nicholine Mortensen

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Nurse

52
44

Napier
Napier

10 years

Roman Catholic, Sweethearts Chapel, Napier

23 November 1886

Rev. Father Grogan, Catholic Priest

No	101
Date of Notice	23 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Finlay	Georgina Nicholine Mortensen
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Nurse
Age	52	44
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic, Sweethearts Chapel, Napier
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Grogan, Catholic Priest

102

29 November 1886

Arthur Hibbert
Mary Magill

Arthur Webber
Mary Magill
💍 1886/2986

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Dressmaker

29
21

Napier
Napier

4 years
4 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

86/12949

29 November 1886

Rev. W. Parkinson, Church of England

No	102
Date of Notice	29 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Hibbert	Mary Magill
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur Webber	Mary Magill
	💍 1886/2986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Dressmaker
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	86/12949
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Parkinson, Church of England

103

30 November 1886

Frederick Gibbons
Sarah Ada Bailey

Frederick Gibbons
Sarah Ada Bailey
💍 1886/2967

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

24
18

Napier
Napier

2 years
8 years

St. John's Church, Napier

86/12943

Ralph Bailey, the father

30 November 1886

Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England

No	103
Date of Notice	30 November 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gibbons	Sarah Ada Bailey
	💍 1886/2967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Napier
Folio	86/12943
Consent	Ralph Bailey, the father
Date of Certificate	30 November 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England

104

13 December 1886

Frank Richard Duncan
Grace Mainwaring

Frank Richard Duncan
Grace Macnair
💍 1886/2968

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

24
31

Napier
Napier

18 years
2 months

St. John's Church, Napier

86/12944

13 December 1886

Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England

No	104
Date of Notice	13 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Richard Duncan	Grace Mainwaring
BDM Match (84%)	Frank Richard Duncan	Grace Macnair
	💍 1886/2968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Napier
Folio	86/12944
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England

105

13 December 1886

John McGeorge Mason
Alice Maria Staines

John McGeorge Mason
Alice Maria Stains
💍 1886/3366

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

30
24

Napier
Napier

18 months
18 months

Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier

86/5428

13 December 1886

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

No	105
Date of Notice	13 December 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGeorge Mason	Alice Maria Staines
BDM Match (97%)	John McGeorge Mason	Alice Maria Stains
	💍 1886/3366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	86/5428
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

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).