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 069 B

District of THAMES Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar Alexander de Courcy Potterton

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

11 January 1888

Edmund George Young
Mary Helen Young

Edmund George
Mary Helen Young
💍 1887/2039

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23 years
19 years

Karaka Road
Karaka Road

18 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

88/143

David Young, Father of Minor

11 January 1888

A. de C. Potterton, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund George Young	Mary Helen Young
BDM Match (84%)	Edmund George	Mary Helen Young
	💍 1887/2039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Road	Karaka Road
Length of Residence	18 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	88/143
Consent	David Young, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	11 January 1888
Officiating Minister	A. de C. Potterton, Registrar

13 January 1888

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole
💍 1887/1931

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole
💍 1887/2031

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern Maker
None

23 years
17 years

Sandes St.
Grahamstown

17 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis

87/166

Robert Stackpole, Father of Minor

13 January 1888

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wells	Rosetta Stackpole
	💍 1887/1931
	💍 1887/2031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern Maker	None
Age	23 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Sandes St.	Grahamstown
Length of Residence	17 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St. Francis
Folio	87/166
Consent	Robert Stackpole, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	13 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

13 January 1888

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole
💍 1887/1931

James Wells
Rosetta Stackpole
💍 1887/2031

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern Maker
None

23 years
17 years

Sandes St.
Grahamstown

17 years
12 years

Dwelling house of Mr & Mrs Wells, Block 27

87/3627

Robert Stackpole, Father of Minor

13 January 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	13 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wells	Rosetta Stackpole
	💍 1887/1931
	💍 1887/2031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern Maker	None
Age	23 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Sandes St.	Grahamstown
Length of Residence	17 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr & Mrs Wells, Block 27
Folio	87/3627
Consent	Robert Stackpole, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	13 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

18 January 1888

Suchkrebilock
Kate Cooper

Joseph Trebilcock
Kate Cooper
💍 1887/2033

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

28 years
20 years

Albert St.
Waiotahi Creek

6 years
17 years

Dwelling house of Henry Cooper, Waiotahi Creek

87/168

Henry Cooper, Father of Minor

19 January 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	18 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Suchkrebilock	Kate Cooper
BDM Match (76%)	Joseph Trebilcock	Kate Cooper
	💍 1887/2033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Albert St.	Waiotahi Creek
Length of Residence	6 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Henry Cooper, Waiotahi Creek
Folio	87/168
Consent	Henry Cooper, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	19 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

31 January 1888

George Bond
Mary Gleeson

George Bond
Mary Gleeson
💍 1887/2034

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

25 years
19 years

Queen St.
Augustus St.

17 years
10 years

Dwelling house of Mr William Bond, Queen St.

87/169

William Gleeson, Father of Minor

31 January 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bond	Mary Gleeson
	💍 1887/2034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	25 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Queen St.	Augustus St.
Length of Residence	17 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr William Bond, Queen St.
Folio	87/169
Consent	William Gleeson, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

4 February 1888

George Hodgetts White
Ann Mary Pearce

George Hodgetts White
Mary Ann Pearce
💍 1887/2035

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

26 years
22 years

Karaka Road
Waiotahi Creek

10 years
18 years

In dwelling house of Mr Samuel Pearce, Waiotahi Creek

87/170

Samuel Pearce, Father of Minor

4 February 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hodgetts White	Ann Mary Pearce
BDM Match (73%)	George Hodgetts White	Mary Ann Pearce
	💍 1887/2035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Road	Waiotahi Creek
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In dwelling house of Mr Samuel Pearce, Waiotahi Creek
Folio	87/170
Consent	Samuel Pearce, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	4 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

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).