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 107

District of Wanganui 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	4 January 1887	Francis Edward Saunders Ellen Allen	Francis Edward Saunders Ellen Allen 💍 1887/2545	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 23	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 4 years	In the residence of F. E. Saunders, Duriet town	87/209		4 January 1887	William Tinsley, Wesleyan
2	10 January 1887	Christopher Brown Rhoda Ann Mills		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Makirikiri Wanganui	13 years 6 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	87/240		10 January 1887	Chas. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
3	10 January 1887	Philip Thomas Batchelor Mary Ann Brown	Thomas Batchelor Sarah Ann Rowe 💍 1887/1238	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	24 21	Wanganui Wanganui	32 years 15 months	In the Church of England, Wanganui	87/238		10 January 1887	T. C. Tudor, Church of England
4	14 January 1887	Edward Hackett Elizabeth Chinn	Edward Hackett Elizabeth King 💍 1887/2528	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 25	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	87/231		14 January 1887	G. W. Woon, Registrar
5	15 January 1887	John Miller Maria Ewart	John Miller Maria Ewart 💍 1887/2547	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	29 21	Wanganui Fordell	6 weeks 3 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	87/232		15 January 1887	G. W. Woon, Registrar
6	18 January 1887	Joseph Pattison Annie Talbott	Joseph Pattison Anna Salisbury 💍 1887/2548	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 18	Wanganui Wanganui	6 years 6 years	In the residence of Rev. H. H. C. Dierks, Maxwelltown	87/360		18 January 1887	H. H. C. Dierks, Lutheran
7	25 January 1887	Bennett Hilton Wilhelmina Hannah		Widower Spinster	Gardener	67 42	Springvale Springvale	5 years 3 years	In the residence of Mr. F. C. Death, Makirikiri	87/241		25 January 1887	T. C. Tudor, Church of England
8	31 January 1887	Robert Smith Brown Emma Death	Robert Smith Brown Emma Death 💍 1887/2533	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Makirikiri Makirikiri	24 years 22 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	87/242		31 January 1887	G. W. Woon, Registrar
9	8 February 1887	James Arthur King Sarah Spinks		Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	36 25	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 16 months	In the Church of England, Wanganui	87/230		8 February 1887	T. C. Tudor, Church of England
10	8 February 1887	Richard Paddley Jane Gower	Richard Baddely Jane Gower 💍 1887/2529	Bachelor Widow	Bank Clerk	25 26	Wanganui Wanganui	9 months 9 months	Wanganui	87/233		8 February 1887	William Tinsley, Wesleyan
11	14 February 1887	Frederick Webb Jones Louisa Jane Nichols	Frederick Webb Jones Louisa Jane Nicholas 💍 1887/2546	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 21	Wanganui Wanganui	22 years 12 years	In the residence of Mr. Thomas Nicholas, Wanganui	87/234		14 February 1887	Chas. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
12	21 February 1887	William Thorn Annie Hickson	William Thom Annie Hickey 💍 1887/2538 William Brown Annie Rigby 💍 1887/844	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith	27 24	Wanganui Wanganui	9 weeks 10 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	87/245		21 February 1887	Chas. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
13	21 February 1887	Francis Walter Furnell Mary Agnes Schonberg	Francis Walter Funnell Mary Agnes Schonbohm 💍 1887/2550	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 4 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	87/234	Margaret Schonberg, Mother	21 February 1887	G. W. Woon, Registrar

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).