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 052

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

25 January 1886

Henry Smith
Elizabeth Herbert Biggs

Henry Smith
Elizabeth Herbert Biggs
💍 1886/253

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour

26
26

Auckland
Auckland

3 years

St Pauls Church, Auckland

86/82

25 January 1886

Rev. E. M. Nelson, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	25 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Smith	Elizabeth Herbert Biggs
	💍 1886/253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Auckland
Folio	86/82
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Nelson, Church of England

25 January 1886

Henry Thomas Salmon
Beatrice Marchant Mabrin

Henry Thomas Salmon
Beatrice Marchant Mabin
💍 1886/44

Bachelor
Spinster

Field Force

36
18

Dunedin
Wellington

8 months
5 years

St Marys Church

86/188

Thos. Stan Mabrin, father

25 January 1886

Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	25 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Salmon	Beatrice Marchant Mabrin
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Thomas Salmon	Beatrice Marchant Mabin
	💍 1886/44
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Field Force
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church
Folio	86/188
Consent	Thos. Stan Mabrin, father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bates, Church of England

26 January 1886

Thomas Bell
Sarah Ann Ogle

Thomas Bell
Sarah Ann Ogle
💍 1886/282

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
26

Auckland
Auckland

20
20

Dwelling of Henry Smith, Mt. Roskill

86/93

26 January 1886

Rev. A. J. Smith, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	26 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bell	Sarah Ann Ogle
	💍 1886/282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20	20
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Henry Smith, Mt. Roskill
Folio	86/93
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Smith, Presbyterian

26 January 1886

George Ryan
Amelia Burton

George Ryan
Amelia Burton
💍 1886/304

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

13
22

Registrars Office

86/118

26 January 1886

J. Owen Lord, Regr.

No	53
Date of Notice	26 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ryan	Amelia Burton
	💍 1886/304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13	22
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	86/118
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1886
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Regr.

26 January 1886

Alfred Brown Shepherd
Emily Faithfull

Alfred Brown Shepherd
Emily Faithfull
💍 1886/305

Bachelor
Divorcee

Farmer

55
32

Whangaroa
Auckland

11 years
7 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

86/119

26 January 1886

J. Owen Lord, Regr.

No	54
Date of Notice	26 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Brown Shepherd	Emily Faithfull
	💍 1886/305
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee
Profession	Farmer
Age	55	32
Dwelling Place	Whangaroa	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	86/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1886
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Regr.

26 January 1886

Alexander George Jarrett
Mary Sweet

Alexander George Jarrett
Mary Sweet
💍 1886/267

Bachelor
Spinster

Short Hand Writer

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

1
5

Congregational Church

86/53

26 January 1886

Rev. W. J. Cross, Congt.

No	55
Date of Notice	26 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander George Jarrett	Mary Sweet
	💍 1886/267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Short Hand Writer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1	5
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	86/53
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Cross, Congt.

26 January 1886

Charles Augustus Bennett Colgan
Carrie Brewel

Charles Augustus Bennett Colgan
Carrie Brewer
💍 1886/231

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

27
7

Dwelling of James Brewer, Symonds St, Auckland

86/39

26 January 1886

Rev. F. G. Barr, Wesleyan

No	56
Date of Notice	26 January 1886
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Augustus Bennett Colgan	Carrie Brewel
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Augustus Bennett Colgan	Carrie Brewer
	💍 1886/231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	27	7
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Brewer, Symonds St, Auckland
Folio	86/39
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1886
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Barr, 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 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).