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 165

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

28 February 1887

Andreas Jensen
Mary Buckley

Andreas Yensen
Mary Buckley
💍 1887/2708

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Domestic

33
21 over

Patea
Patea

5 years
7 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

87/394

28 February 1887

S. I. Sago Registrar of Marriages Napier

No	15
Date of Notice	28 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andreas Jensen	Mary Buckley
BDM Match (96%)	Andreas Yensen	Mary Buckley
	💍 1887/2708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Domestic
Age	33	21 over
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	5 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	87/394
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1887
Officiating Minister	S. I. Sago Registrar of Marriages Napier

28 February 1887

Hugh Joseph Rogers
Margaret Hurst

Hugh Joseph Rogers
Margaret Hurst
💍 1887/2690

Bachelor
Spinster

Drayman

27
27

Napier
Napier

5 years
7 days

Roman Catholic Chapel Napier

87/400

28 February 1887

Rev. Father Grogan R. C. Priest Napier

No	16
Date of Notice	28 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Joseph Rogers	Margaret Hurst
	💍 1887/2690
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drayman
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel Napier
Folio	87/400
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Grogan R. C. Priest Napier

1 March 1887

William Seman
Jemima Ireland

William Wiseman
Jemima Ireland
💍 1887/2338

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Music teacher

28
29

Kaipawa
Riverton

3 months
15 years

Presbyterian Church Napier

87/1246

1 March 1887

Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

No	17
Date of Notice	1 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Seman	Jemima Ireland
BDM Match (90%)	William Wiseman	Jemima Ireland
	💍 1887/2338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Music teacher
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Kaipawa	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Napier
Folio	87/1246
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

7 March 1887

William Hugh Nicholls
Helen Duthie Reedy

William Hugh Nicols
Helen Duthie Speedy
💍 1887/2339

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer

28
23

Featherston
Napier

28 years Residence
3 days

Residence of the Bride's Father Napier

87/1247

Bride's Father

7 March 1887

Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

No	18
Date of Notice	7 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Nicholls	Helen Duthie Reedy
BDM Match (90%)	William Hugh Nicols	Helen Duthie Speedy
	💍 1887/2339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride's Father Napier
Folio	87/1247
Consent	Bride's Father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

19 March 1887

Thomas Richard Olsen
Jane Eleanor Brown

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
20

Paparoa
Napier

12 years of Residence
12 years

Mrs Brown's Milton Road Napier

87/1248

Letitia Brown the mother

19 March 1887

Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

No	19
Date of Notice	19 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Olsen	Jane Eleanor Brown
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Paparoa	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years of Residence	12 years
Marriage Place	Mrs Brown's Milton Road Napier
Folio	87/1248
Consent	Letitia Brown the mother
Date of Certificate	19 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Paterson Presbyterian Minister Napier

28 March 1887

Henry Nelson
Elizabeth Ellery

Harry Nelson
Elizabeth Ellery
💍 1887/2333

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Saleswoman

31
22

Napier
Clive

15 months
3 years

St Mark's Church of England Clive

87/1242

28 March 1887

Rev. H. McLean Church of England Minister Clive

No	20
Date of Notice	28 March 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nelson	Elizabeth Ellery
BDM Match (92%)	Harry Nelson	Elizabeth Ellery
	💍 1887/2333
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	15 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church of England Clive
Folio	87/1242
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McLean Church of England Minister Clive

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).