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 238

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
24	24 January 1886	William Robert Dockery Annie Davies	William Robert Dockery Carolina Annie Davies 💍 1886/672 William Baird Anne Davies 💍 1887/2823	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Machinist	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 19 years	House of Revd. J. Westie, Lichfield Street	86/524	Sarah Vera Davies, mother	20 January 1886	Revd. J. Westie
25	25 January 1886	Alexander William Runey Jane Wade	Alexander Phillips Jane Walker 💍 1886/976 Alexander Millar Emily Jane Wade 💍 1886/76	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 23 years	Registrars Office	86/577		21 January 1886	Registrar J. M. Mackessack
26	26 January 1886	William Jennings Maria Coxon	William Jennings Susannah Maria Coxon 💍 1886/65	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner Housekeeper	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 6 weeks	Registrars Office	86/574	Thomas Coxon, father	21 January 1886	Registrar J. M. Mackessack
27	27 January 1886	John Bennett Johanna Reuchau	John Bennett Rosina Waterman 💍 1886/695	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	9 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	86/611		22 January 1886	Revd. L. W. Ginaty, Roman Catholic
28	28 January 1886	John Bennett Roseena Waterman	John Bennett Rosina Waterman 💍 1886/695	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 10 years	House of George Waterman, Ferry Road, Richmond	86/569	George Waterman, father	25 January 1886	Revd. G. Taylor, Congregational
29	29 January 1886	Christopher Cooper Jemima Elizabeth Charlotte Lauder	Christopher Tom Cooper Jemima Elizabeth Charlotte Lander 💍 1886/157	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 21 years	House of Christopher Cooper, Greyke Road	86/1449		25 January 1886	Revd. R. Taylor, Methodist
30	30 January 1886	Charles William Jackson Maria Bluese	Charles William Jackson Maria Blincoe 💍 1886/83	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 2 years	Registrars Office	86/579		25 January 1886	Registrar J. M. Mackessack
31	31 January 1886	George William Truman Eleanor Willis	George William Truman Maria Eleanor Willis 💍 1886/706	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	22 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 23 years	House of Mrs. Willis	86/556		26 January 1886	Revd. G. Issued, Wesleyan

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).