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 138

District of Masterton 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	George Brown Bannister Edith McKenzie	George Bannister Edith McKenzie 💍 1887/2654	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	26 19	Ihura Masterton Upper Plain Masterton	26 years 19 years	House of Mr Murdock McKenzie	87/362	Murdock McKenzie Father	4 January 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian
2	5 January 1887	Charles Thomas Elliot Margaretta McClelland	Charles Thomas Collier Margaretta McClelland 💍 1887/2652	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Spinster	26 22	Masterton Masterton	3 years 9 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	87/360		5 January 1887	John Bagge Registrar
3	5 February 1887	William Russell Mary Anne Moore	William Russell Mary Anne Moore 💍 1887/2650 William Pengelly Catharine Moore 💍 1887/1327	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Spinster	24 27	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 days	Church of England	87/358		15 February 1887	Rev W E Paige Church of England
4	15 February 1887	William Dalrymple Amelia Alexandra Lloyd	William Dalrymple Amelia Alexandra Lloyd 💍 1887/2651	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Housemaid	25 21	Brancepeth Masterton	3 years 3 days	Church of England	87/359		15 February 1887	Rev W E Paige Church of England
5	15 February 1887	Bamford Thomas Mary Ellen Griffiths	Hans Carl Thomson Mary Ellen Griffiths 💍 1887/2653	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	33 35	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/361		16 February 1887	John Bagge Registrar
6	22 February 1887	John Davenport Sarah Allen	John Devonport Sarah Allen 💍 1887/2662	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	24 24	Manawa Lower Manawa	6 years 8 years	House of Mr Robert Allen	87/363		22 February 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian
7	24 February 1887	John O'Neill Ellen Barratt	John OKeill Ellen Barrett 💍 1887/2680	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic Servant	27 23	Masterton Masterton	11 days 11 days	Roman Catholic Chapel Masterton	87/366		24 February 1887	Rev Patrick Tracey Roman Catholic
8	31 March 1887	Henry Dixon Adams Emma Emma Hubbell	Henry Dixon Adams Elouise Emma Niblett 💍 1887/2679	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Farm Maid	24 21	Masterton Masterton	2 1/2 years 6 months	House of Mr I. J. Smith Cole St Masterton	87/365		31 March 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian
9	31 March 1887	John Kirk Blenkhorne Mary Ann Chandler	John Kite Blinkhorne Mary Ellen Chandler 💍 1887/2295	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	22 20	Masterton Masterton	3 months 8 years	Wesleyan Parsonage Masterton	87/1208	Mary Ann Chandler Mother	31 March 1887	Rev J R Buttle Wesleyan

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).