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 055

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

21 February 1887

Hugh Montgomery
Julia Anne Millward

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
[illegible]

22
21

Queen Street Auckland
Burleigh Street Auckland

[illegible]
[illegible]

St Thomas Wesleyan Church

87/90

21 February 1887

Rev. R. T. Macnicol Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	21 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Montgomery	Julia Anne Millward
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	[illegible]
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Queen Street Auckland	Burleigh Street Auckland
Length of Residence	[illegible]	[illegible]
Marriage Place	St Thomas Wesleyan Church
Folio	87/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Macnicol Presbyterian

21 February 1887

Alexander Edward Stewart
Jane Elizabeth

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
[illegible]

27
24

Remuera Auckland
Newmarket Wellington

4 years
[illegible]

St Sepulchre's Church

87/948

23 February 1887

Rev. A. Garrick Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	21 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Edward Stewart	Jane Elizabeth
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	[illegible]
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Remuera Auckland	Newmarket Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	[illegible]
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church
Folio	87/948
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Garrick Presbyterian

23 February 1887

Alfred William Collins
Hannah Calderwood

Alfred William Webster
Hannah Cuthbertson
💍 1887/2411

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
[illegible]

25
21

Nelson
Parnell Auckland

6 months
20 years

Groom's dwelling of Mr. J. Calderwood

87/94

23 February 1887

Rev. C. M. Nelson Ch. of Eng.

No	86
Date of Notice	23 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Collins	Hannah Calderwood
BDM Match (65%)	Alfred William Webster	Hannah Cuthbertson
	💍 1887/2411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	[illegible]
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Parnell Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Groom's dwelling of Mr. J. Calderwood
Folio	87/94
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson Ch. of Eng.

23 February 1887

Robert Macleod Grijs
Christina McLeod

Robert MacKay Fripp
Christina Nichol
💍 1887/2441

Robert Hamilton Cole
Christina McRae
💍 1888/478

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
[illegible]

29
25

Remuera Auckland
Auckland

5 years
5 years

St Paul's Church

87/123

23 February 1887

Rev. T. Macfarlane E. Methodist

No	87
Date of Notice	23 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Macleod Grijs	Christina McLeod
BDM Match (67%)	Robert MacKay Fripp	Christina Nichol
	💍 1887/2441
BDM Match (63%)	Robert Hamilton Cole	Christina McRae
	💍 1888/478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	[illegible]
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Remuera Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church
Folio	87/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Macfarlane E. Methodist

23 February 1887

Alexander James
Bertha

Bachelor
Spinster

Haberdasher
[illegible]

26
24

Newton Auckland
Brighton Auckland

4 years
4 years

Groom's dwelling of Mr Robert Millington

87/113

24 February 1887

J. Owen Lord Regr.

No	88
Date of Notice	23 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James	Bertha
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Haberdasher	[illegible]
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Newton Auckland	Brighton Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Groom's dwelling of Mr Robert Millington
Folio	87/113
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1887
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Regr.

24 February 1887

Henry George
Isabella Jackson

Henry George Shelley
Isabella Jacobs
💍 1887/2377

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
[illegible]

21
22

Devonport Auckland
Devonport Auckland

4 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

87/60

24 February 1887

J. Owen Lord Regr.

No	89
Date of Notice	24 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George	Isabella Jackson
BDM Match (68%)	Henry George Shelley	Isabella Jacobs
	💍 1887/2377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	[illegible]
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Devonport Auckland	Devonport Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	87/60
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1887
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Regr.

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).