Intentions to Marry, 1887

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840399, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 049

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1887 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

28 January 1887

Thomas Douthitt
Alice Scouller

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer

29
24

Auckland
Park Road

3 years
4 years

St Sepulchre's Church

87/104

28 January 1887

Rev. B. T. Dudley

No	48
Date of Notice	28 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Douthitt	Alice Scouller
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Park Road
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church
Folio	87/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. T. Dudley

31 January 1887

James Black
Mary Wright

James Cusack
Sarah Wright
💍 1887/2267

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

40
22

Kihikihi
Cambridge

4 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

87/48

31 January 1887

J. Owen Lord Reg.

No	49
Date of Notice	31 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Black	Mary Wright
BDM Match (75%)	James Cusack	Sarah Wright
	💍 1887/2267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Cambridge
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	87/48
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1887
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Reg.

31 January 1887

John McCombie
Theresa Jane Smith

John McCombie
Theresa Jane Smith
💍 1887/2022

Bachelor
Spinster

Mining Agent

36
24

Ohinemuri
Auckland

10 years
2 years

Dwelling of Samuel Childer

87/32

31 January 1887

Rev. C. A. McFarland

No	50
Date of Notice	31 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McCombie	Theresa Jane Smith
	💍 1887/2022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mining Agent
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Ohinemuri	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Samuel Childer
Folio	87/32
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. McFarland

1 February 1887

William Clark
Ellen Hannah

William Clarke
Ellen Shale
💍 1887/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

21
18

New Plymouth
Feilding

10 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

87/49

1 February 1887

J. Owen Lord Reg.

No	51
Date of Notice	1 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clark	Ellen Hannah
BDM Match (71%)	William Clarke	Ellen Shale
	💍 1887/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Feilding
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	87/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1887
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Reg.

1 February 1887

John Thomas Flinn
Annie Tyburnia Sanderson

John Thomas Flinn
Annie Tyburnia Sanderson
💍 1887/2459

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
23

Great Barrier
Great Barrier

26 years
21 years

St. Matthew's Church Hobson St

87/142

1 February 1887

Rev. H. Tebbs Ch. of Eng.

No	52
Date of Notice	1 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Flinn	Annie Tyburnia Sanderson
	💍 1887/2459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Great Barrier	Great Barrier
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hobson St
Folio	87/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Tebbs Ch. of Eng.

2 February 1887

Henry Nolge
Emily Downes

Henry Wolfe
Emily Down
💍 1887/2017

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

26
28

Pitt Street
Pitt Street

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office

87/50

2 February 1887

J. Owen Lord Reg.

No	53
Date of Notice	2 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nolge	Emily Downes
BDM Match (83%)	Henry Wolfe	Emily Down
	💍 1887/2017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Pitt Street	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	87/50
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1887
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Reg.

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 1903. 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).