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 060

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1886

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

106

1 March 1886

Thomas Charles Meyer
Grace Mary Wilson

Thomas Charles Meyer
Grace May Wilson
💍 1886/62

Bachelor
Spinster

Light Keeper

26
17

Motuihi
Auckland

9 mos
3 mos

St. Matthews Church

86/183

Father

1 March 1886

Rev. W. Tebbs, Church of England

No	106
Date of Notice	1 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Meyer	Grace Mary Wilson
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Charles Meyer	Grace May Wilson
	💍 1886/62
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Light Keeper
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Motuihi	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 mos	3 mos
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	86/183
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tebbs, Church of England

107

1 March 1886

Alfred Benjamin Carly
Martha Elizabeth Knight

Alfred Benjamin Darly
Martha Elizabeth Knight
💍 1886/19

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
26

Auckland

3 yrs
3 "

Registrars Office

86/139

1 March 1886

Owen Love, Reg.

No	107
Date of Notice	1 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Benjamin Carly	Martha Elizabeth Knight
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Benjamin Darly	Martha Elizabeth Knight
	💍 1886/19
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place		Auckland
Length of Residence	3 yrs	3 "
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	86/139
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Owen Love, Reg.

108

1 March 1886

John Richard Connelly
Mary Ann Dobbyn

John Richard Donnelly
Margaret Dobbyn
💍 1886/328

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
34

Mt. Eden
Avondale

7 "
4 "

St. Benedicts Church

86/169

1 March 1886

Rev. J. O. Downey, Roman Catholic

No	108
Date of Notice	1 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Connelly	Mary Ann Dobbyn
BDM Match (81%)	John Richard Donnelly	Margaret Dobbyn
	💍 1886/328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Mt. Eden	Avondale
Length of Residence	7 "	4 "
Marriage Place	St. Benedicts Church
Folio	86/169
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O. Downey, Roman Catholic

109

1 March 1886

James Crotty
Ellen Henry

James Crotty
Ellen Henry
💍 1886/290

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
26

Auckland

9 "
9 "

St. Patricks Cathedral

86/100

1 March 1886

Rev. G. Inchwell, Roman Catholic

No	109
Date of Notice	1 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Crotty	Ellen Henry
	💍 1886/290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 "	9 "
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Cathedral
Folio	86/100
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Inchwell, Roman Catholic

110

1 March 1886

John Lewis
Mary Maria Searle

John Lewis
Mary Maria Searle
💍 1886/61

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

21
17

Hobson St.

3 "
6 "

St. Matthews Church

86/182

Father

1 March 1886

Rev. W. Tebbs, Church of England

No	110
Date of Notice	1 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lewis	Mary Maria Searle
	💍 1886/61
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place		Hobson St.
Length of Residence	3 "	6 "
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	86/182
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	1 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tebbs, Church of England

111

2 March 1886

Owen Percy Philpotts
Elizabeth Dalyell

Owen Percy Philpot
Elizabeth Dalzell
💍 1886/297

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

26
20

Newton
Newton Road

1 "
3 "

Dwelling of Andrew Dalyell

86/84

Andrew Dalyell, father

2 March 1886

Rev. J. Spurgeon, Baptist

No	111
Date of Notice	2 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Percy Philpotts	Elizabeth Dalyell
BDM Match (92%)	Owen Percy Philpot	Elizabeth Dalzell
	💍 1886/297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Newton	Newton Road
Length of Residence	1 "	3 "
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Andrew Dalyell
Folio	86/84
Consent	Andrew Dalyell, father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Spurgeon, Baptist

112

2 March 1886

John Ephraim Stedman
Helen Henrietta Cunningham

John Ephraim Hedlund
Helen Henrietta Cunningham
💍 1886/236

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

23
19

Onehunga
Queen St. Onehunga

4 "
19 "

Dwelling of Andrew Cunningham

86/45

Andrew Cunningham, father

2 March 1886

Rev. Thos. Miller, Wesleyan

No	112
Date of Notice	2 March 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ephraim Stedman	Helen Henrietta Cunningham
BDM Match (88%)	John Ephraim Hedlund	Helen Henrietta Cunningham
	💍 1886/236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Queen St. Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 "	19 "
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Andrew Cunningham
Folio	86/45
Consent	Andrew Cunningham, father
Date of Certificate	2 March 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Miller, Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).