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 125

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1887 Registrar William Thomas Wyatt

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

25 January 1887

Robert Dixon
Isabella Ruther

Robert Dixon
Isabella Rutter
💍 1887/2579

Widower
Widow

Settler

66
56

Wellington
Wellington

3 days

House of Mr. Trevor, Courtenay Place

87/286

25 January 1887

Rev. J. J. Parmay

No	25
Date of Notice	25 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dixon	Isabella Ruther
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Dixon	Isabella Rutter
	💍 1887/2579
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Settler
Age	66	56
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Trevor, Courtenay Place
Folio	87/286
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Parmay

26 January 1887

Alfred Browett
Mary Thomas

Alfred Browett
Mary Thomas
💍 1887/2600

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

Registrars office, Wellington

87/304

26 January 1887

W. T. Wyatt

No	26
Date of Notice	26 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Browett	Mary Thomas
	💍 1887/2600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office, Wellington
Folio	87/304
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1887
Officiating Minister	W. T. Wyatt

27 January 1887

George Henry Smith
Evaline Ritchie

George Henry Smith
Evaline Ritchie
💍 1887/2571

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

43
31

Wellington
Wellington

5 years

St. Pauls Cathedral

87/279

27 January 1887

Rev. John Still

No	27
Date of Notice	27 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Smith	Evaline Ritchie
	💍 1887/2571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral
Folio	87/279
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Still

28 January 1887

Arthur Roby Pen Loader
Mary Jane Halcrow

Arthur Robert Ven Lodder
Mary Jane Halcrow
💍 1887/2638

Bachelor
Spinster

Torpedo Lieutenant

30
18

Wellington
Wellington

15 months

House of Rev. C. S. Ogg

87/346

Mary Orr, mother

28 January 1887

Rev. C. S. Ogg

No	28
Date of Notice	28 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Roby Pen Loader	Mary Jane Halcrow
BDM Match (90%)	Arthur Robert Ven Lodder	Mary Jane Halcrow
	💍 1887/2638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Torpedo Lieutenant
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. C. S. Ogg
Folio	87/346
Consent	Mary Orr, mother
Date of Certificate	28 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg

28 January 1887

Henry Bennett Kennedy
Annie Avison

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab Proprietor

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

St. Pauls Cathedral

87/308

28 January 1887

Rev. John Still

No	29
Date of Notice	28 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bennett Kennedy	Annie Avison
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab Proprietor
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral
Folio	87/308
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Still

31 January 1887

Sydenham James Llewellyn
Margaret Eades

Sydenham James Llewellyn
Margaret Eades
💍 1887/2590

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

26
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

House of Mr. Eades, Abel Smith Street

87/298

William Eades, father

31 January 1887

Rev. L. M. Isitt

No	30
Date of Notice	31 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydenham James Llewellyn	Margaret Eades
	💍 1887/2590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Eades, Abel Smith Street
Folio	87/298
Consent	William Eades, father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. M. Isitt

2 February 1887

Reedy O'Leary
Catherine O'Leary

Keady O'Leary
Catherine O'Leary
💍 1887/2610

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

St. Marys Cathedral

87/294

2 February 1887

Rev. J. McNamara

No	31
Date of Notice	2 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reedy O'Leary	Catherine O'Leary
BDM Match (92%)	Keady O'Leary	Catherine O'Leary
	💍 1887/2610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Cathedral
Folio	87/294
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McNamara

3 February 1887

William Freeman Jones
Emmerah Page

William Freeman
Emmarah Page
💍 1887/2637

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

St. Pauls Cathedral

87/334

3 February 1887

Rev. John Still

No	32
Date of Notice	3 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Freeman Jones	Emmerah Page
BDM Match (82%)	William Freeman	Emmarah Page
	💍 1887/2637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral
Folio	87/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Still

3 February 1887

Murtoch Collins
Mary Ann Woulden

Murtagh Collins
Mary Ann Wouldes
💍 1887/2602

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

14 days

Registrars office, Wellington

87/309

3 February 1887

W. T. Wyatt

No	33
Date of Notice	3 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murtoch Collins	Mary Ann Woulden
BDM Match (90%)	Murtagh Collins	Mary Ann Wouldes
	💍 1887/2602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrars office, Wellington
Folio	87/309
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1887
Officiating Minister	W. T. Wyatt

8 February 1887

Bengt Johanson
Alice Harriet Stokes

Bengt Johanson
Alice Harriet Hooker
💍 1887/2604

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

33
25

Ohariu
Ohariu

2 weeks

Registrars office, Wellington

87/311

8 February 1887

W. T. Wyatt

No	34
Date of Notice	8 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bengt Johanson	Alice Harriet Stokes
BDM Match (93%)	Bengt Johanson	Alice Harriet Hooker
	💍 1887/2604
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Ohariu	Ohariu
Length of Residence	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars office, Wellington
Folio	87/311
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1887
Officiating Minister	W. T. Wyatt

8 February 1887

Henry Charles Haselden
Emma Smith

Henry Charles Haselden
Emma Smith
💍 1887/2583

Bachelor
Spinster

Pork Butcher and Tanner

25
25

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

House of Mr. Haselden, Price Street

87/267

8 February 1887

Rev. H. H. Trivett

No	35
Date of Notice	8 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Haselden	Emma Smith
	💍 1887/2583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pork Butcher and Tanner
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Haselden, Price Street
Folio	87/267
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Trivett

8 February 1887

William Henry Anthony
Emma Petty

William Henry Anthony
Emma Potty
💍 1887/1687

Widower
Spinster

Chemist

37
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years

St. Marks Church

87/340

8 February 1887

Rev. R. Coffey

No	36
Date of Notice	8 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Anthony	Emma Petty
BDM Match (95%)	William Henry Anthony	Emma Potty
	💍 1887/1687
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	87/340
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

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).