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 1421

District of Ashburton 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
484	25 October 1886	William Thomas Harrison Edena Arabella Whitlaw	William Thomas Harrison Edena Arabella Whitlow 💍 1886/3482	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	25 25	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 6 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	86/3183		25 October 1886	J. Ward, Registrar
485	1 November 1886	Henry Taylor Annie Croton	Henry Taylor Annie Croton 💍 1886/3197	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	20 20	Ashburton Lauriston, Ashburton	12 years 18 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	86/3184	James Taylor, Father; George Frederick Church, Guardian	3 November 1886	J. Ward, Registrar
486	13 November 1886	Arthur Patterson Sarah Horsfall	Arthur Patterson Sarah Horsfall 💍 1886/3194	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 21	Ashburton Forks Ashburton	11 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church	86/3180		13 November 1886	A. M. Beattie (Revd.)
487	15 November 1886	John Mestell Mary Healey	John Meskell Mary Esther Healey 💍 1886/3192	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 22	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	86/3178		15 November 1886	Revd. F. Chastagnon
488	1 December 1886	John William Walmsley Isabella Jane Elmsley	John William Walmsley Isabella Jane Elmsly 💍 1886/3140	Bachelor Spinster	Spinner	28 26	Ashburton Opawa	16 months 7 years	Private dwelling house of Isabella Jane Elmsley	86/3140		1 December 1886	Revd. William Neall
489	3 December 1886	John Moore Tweed Jessie Gertrude Martin	John Moore Tweed Jessie Gertrude Martin 💍 1886/3337	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	28 20	Ashburton Wellington	3 months 20 years	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington	86/1339	John Martin, Father	16 December 1886	Revd. James Paterson
490	18 December 1886	Walter Hayman Mary Elizabeth Frampton	Walter Hayman Mary Elizabeth Frampton 💍 1886/3196	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Wheatstone Willowby	3 years 2.5 years	Wesleyan Church	86/3182	Henry Frampton, Father	18 December 1886	Revd. D. McNicoll
491	22 December 1886	William Reid Charlotte Murray Swanson	William Reid Charlotte Murray Swanson 💍 1886/3195	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 20	Ashburton Allenton	8 years 3 years	Private dwelling house of Alexander Swanson	86/3181	Alexander Swanson, Father	23 December 1886	Revd. A. M. Beattie
492	30 December 1886	Mark Mills Jane Anna Browning	Mark Mills Jane Anna Browning 💍 1887/16	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 26	Winslow Winslow	3 years 3 days	Private dwelling house of Jesse Hayman	86/1976		30 December 1886	Revd. D. McNicoll

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).