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 500

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 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
27	8 May 1886	Thomas Meihan Sarah Mahoney	Thomas Meehan Sarah Mahoney 💍 1886/1255	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	29 23	Wanganui Wanganui	27 yrs. 28 yrs.	In the Roman Catholic Church Wanganui	86/1129		8 May 1886	Chas H. Kirk Roman Catholic
28	12 May 1886	James Murray Jane Bathro	James Murray Jane Cathro 💍 1886/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 19	Wanganui Wanganui	16 yrs. 2 1/2 yrs.	In the Wesleyan Church Wanganui	86/1140	Father	12 May 1886	William Ensley Wesleyan
29	20 May 1886	John Mahon Cuman Caroline Helena Smith	John Nelson Coleman Caroline Helena Smidt 💍 1886/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 20	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs. 6 yrs.	In the Wesleyan Church Wanganui	86/1120	Father	20 May 1886	William Ensley Wesleyan
30	21 May 1886	Walter Lindley Meeks Mary Matilda Willis	Walter Lindley Meek Mary Matilda Willis 💍 1886/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	24 19	Wanganui Wanganui	6 days 19 yrs.	In the Church of England Wanganui	86/1141	A. D. Willis Father	21 May 1886	T. L. Tudor Church of England
31	1 June 1886	William Henry Graham Janet Nows		Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	28 24	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 4 yrs.	In the Church of England Wanganui	86/1140		1 June 1886	T. L. Tudor Church of England
32	7 June 1886	Michael Kerrigan Bridget O'Hannigan	Michael Keegan Bridget O'Shannassey 💍 1886/1262	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker	22 18	Wanganui Wanganui	11 yrs. 5 mos.	In the Roman Catholic Church Wanganui	86/1139	Father	7 June 1886	Chas H. Kirk Roman Catholic
33	7 June 1886	John McFarlane Kate Admans	John McFarlane Catherine Adamson 💍 1886/1265	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	34 18	Wanganui Wanganui	10 yrs. 18 mos.	In the Presbyterian Church Wanganui	86/1133	Father	7 June 1886	Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian
34	12 June 1886	David Murray Alice Hackett	David Murray Alice Hackett 💍 1886/1250	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 22	Wanganui Wanganui	18 yrs. 8 yrs.	In the Wesleyan Church Wanganui	86/1142		12 June 1886	Revd Wm Ensley Wesleyan
35	22 June 1886	Wilfrid Hicks Mary Ann Robb	Wilfred Hicks Mary Ann Robb 💍 1886/1251	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	29 27	Wanganui Wanganui	7 yrs. 10 yrs.	In the residence of D. Robb, Wanganui	86/1143		22 June 1886	Revd Wm Ensley Wesleyan
36	23 June 1886	Tom Nicholson Elizabeth Ann Hodson	Tom Nicholson Elizabeth Ann Hodrew 💍 1886/1263	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 20	Wanganui Wanganui	9 yrs. 13 yrs.	In the residence of F. Hodson Wanganui	86/1144	F. Hodson Father	23 June 1886	Revd Rose Shackleford Baptist
37	26 June 1886	Walter William Gundy Elizabeth Vulcan Thomas	Walter William Gundy Elizabeth Vulcan Thomson 💍 1886/1246	Bachelor Widow	Saw Miller	38 29	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	86/1138		26 June 1886	S. H. Moon Registrar
38	28 June 1886	David Walker Low Mary Collingwood	David Walker Low Mary Collingwood 💍 1886/2041	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	19 26	Wanganui Wanganui	3 mos. 5 yrs.	In Mr. Wm Collingwood's house, Wanganui	86/1137	F. Low Father	28 June 1886	Revd Wm Ensley Wesleyan
39	28 June 1886	Walter William Braddick Margaret Glass	Walter William Braddock Margaret Glass 💍 1886/1266	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 19	Wanganui Wanganui	18 yrs. 10 yrs.	In the residence of F. Glass Wanganui	86/1134	F. Glass Mother	28 June 1886	Revd Jas. Treadwell Presbyterian

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).