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 163

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1887 Registrar S. I. Sago

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

4 January 1887

George Reuben Hatching
Elizabeth Anne Taylor

George Reuben Hutching
Elizabeth Anne Taylor
💍 1887/3179

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
24

Woodville Napier
Napier

6 years 4 days
3 years

St John's Church, Napier

87/1258

4 January 1887

Rev. I. Parkinson, Church of England, Napier

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Reuben Hatching	Elizabeth Anne Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	George Reuben Hutching	Elizabeth Anne Taylor
	💍 1887/3179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Woodville Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years 4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Napier
Folio	87/1258
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Parkinson, Church of England, Napier

2 January 1887

John Roberts
Margaret Ellen Lee

John Roberts
Margaret Ellen Lee
💍 1887/2710

Bachelor
Spinster

Book Keeper

31
23

Napier
Napier

1 year
3 days

Residence of Rev. John Martin, Coote Rd, Napier

87/1396

4 January 1887

Rev. H. Baumber, Wesleyan Minister, Napier

No	2
Date of Notice	2 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roberts	Margaret Ellen Lee
	💍 1887/2710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Book Keeper
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. John Martin, Coote Rd, Napier
Folio	87/1396
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Baumber, Wesleyan Minister, Napier

3 January 1887

John Malcolm
Maggie Scott

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Dressmaker

32
19

Napier
Napier

15 months
1st

Residence of John Scott, Battery Rd, Napier

87/1245

John Scott, Father

7 January 1887

Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Napier

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Malcolm	Maggie Scott
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	15 months	1st
Marriage Place	Residence of John Scott, Battery Rd, Napier
Folio	87/1245
Consent	John Scott, Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Napier

8 January 1887

Frederick Passien
Annie Rose Smith

Frederick Cassin
Annie Rosa Smith
💍 1887/2678

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
26

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

87/387

8 January 1887

Rev. Father Grogan, R. C. Priest

No	4
Date of Notice	8 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Passien	Annie Rose Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Cassin	Annie Rosa Smith
	💍 1887/2678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	87/387
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Grogan, R. C. Priest

21 January 1887

Thomas McEwan
Mary Clifford

Thomas Hayden
Mary Clifford
💍 1887/2686

Widower
Spinster

Cook
Domestic

30
25

Napier
Napier

6 months
1 year

Office of the Registrar, Napier

87/1391

21 January 1887

S. I. Sago, The Registrar, Napier

No	5
Date of Notice	21 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McEwan	Mary Clifford
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Hayden	Mary Clifford
	💍 1887/2686
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Napier
Folio	87/1391
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1887
Officiating Minister	S. I. Sago, The Registrar, Napier

21 January 1887

Thomas Hayden
Mary Clifford

Thomas Hayden
Mary Clifford
💍 1887/2686

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

23
25

Napier
Napier

23 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

87/388

24 January 1887

Rev. Father Kirkham, R. C. Priest, Napier

No	6
Date of Notice	21 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hayden	Mary Clifford
	💍 1887/2686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	87/388
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Kirkham, R. C. Priest, Napier

21 January 1887

Thomas Beattie
Mary Josephine Durney

Thomas Beattie
Mary Josephine Durney
💍 1887/2697

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

23
18

Napier
Napier

4 years
13 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

87/389

Thomas Durney, The Father

24 January 1887

Rev. Father Kirkham, R. C. Priest, Napier

No	7
Date of Notice	21 January 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Beattie	Mary Josephine Durney
	💍 1887/2697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	87/389
Consent	Thomas Durney, The Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Kirkham, R. C. Priest, Napier

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).