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 065

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1887

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
1	15 January 1887	John Elrick Catherine Ann Piggott formerly Parker	John Elrick Catharine Ann Piggott 💍 1887/2045	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	49 35	Paparata Paparata	3 months 20 years	home of Mrs Catherine Piggott Paparata	87/157		15 January 1887	Rev E J Mac Farland Anglican Minister
2	17 January 1887	William While Hannah Newry	William White Hannah Henry 💍 1887/102 William Bailey Hannah Johnson 💍 1887/1889 William Rice Rose Hannah Edwards 💍 1887/1130	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	30 17	Drury Drury	18 months 7 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Drury	87/158	Frank Newry, father	17 January 1887	W Shanaghan Registrar
3	18 January 1887	James Turner Wylie Blanche Amsly	James Turner Wylie Blanche Elmsley 💍 1887/2457	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	28 27	Drury Otahuhu	5 months 23 years	Anglican Church Otahuhu	87/140		18 January 1887	Rev F Gould Anglican Minister
4	14 February 1887	Thomas John Rodger Mary Ann Smith	Thomas John Rodgers Mary Ann Smith 💍 1887/2042 Thomas Auld Martha Ann Smith 💍 1887/1767 George Bensley Mary Ann Smith 💍 1887/1435 Charles Cornelius Smith Mary Ann Smith 💍 1887/3174	Bachelor Spinster	Masters Mate	27 26	Papakura Papakura	7 weeks 3 years	Anglican Church Papakura	87/153		14 February 1887	Rev O R Hewlett Anglican Minister
5	15 February 1887	Hakarau Arthur Oldham Alice Caroline Martha Walker	Hakura Arthur Oldham Alice Caroline Martha Walker 💍 1887/2046	Bachelor Spinster	Flax Manufacturer Dress Maker	27 22	Tuakau Tuakau	6 years 13 years	Wesleyan Church Tuakau	87/158		15 February 1887	Rev S Lawry Wesleyan Minister
6	16 March 1887	George Twidle Ada Scott formerly Horrie	George Twidle Ada Scott 💍 1887/2044	Widower Widow	Railway Porter Dress Maker	32 26	Pukekohe Pukekohe	1 year 3 years	All Saints Church Pukekohe	87/160		16 March 1887	Rev W Calder Anglican Minister
7	16 March 1887	Alfred George Pulleng Mary Ann Kelsher	Alfred George Pulleng Mary Ann Kelsher 💍 1887/2465	Widower Widow	Hotel Keeper	56 34	Pukekohe Ponsonby	1 year 1 year	Church Ponsonby Auckland	87/147		16 March 1887	Rev W Calder Anglican Minister
8	24 March 1887	James Young McFarlane Conrice Mary Ann Collins	James Young McLachlane Comrie Mary Ann Collins 💍 1887/2047	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	24 25	Pukekohe East Pukekohe East	20 years 2 years	home of Mr Thomas Collins Pukekohe East	87/159		24 March 1887	Rev S Lawry Wesleyan Minister

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).