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 285

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1887 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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 February 1887

Charles Edward Wisdom Fleming
Ann Glendinning Brebner

Charles Edward Wisdom Fleming
Ann Glendenning Brebner
💍 1887/2831

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

28 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
1 week

In the Trinity Church

87/643

Mary Brebner, Mother of Minor

1 February 1887

Revd. S. Lee, Wesleyan Minister

No	35
Date of Notice	1 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Wisdom Fleming	Ann Glendinning Brebner
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Edward Wisdom Fleming	Ann Glendenning Brebner
	💍 1887/2831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	28 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	In the Trinity Church
Folio	87/643
Consent	Mary Brebner, Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	1 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd. S. Lee, Wesleyan Minister

1 February 1887

Paul Muss
Jane Burke

Paul Muss
Jane Burke
💍 1887/2833

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Housemaid

49 years
30 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

2 years
2 years

In St. Josephs Cathedral

87/644

1 February 1887

Revd. P. Lynch, Roman Catholic Priest

No	36
Date of Notice	1 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Muss	Jane Burke
	💍 1887/2833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Housemaid
Age	49 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Cathedral
Folio	87/644
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd. P. Lynch, Roman Catholic Priest

2 February 1887

William John Croft
Jane Goodall

William John Croft
Jane Goodall
💍 1887/2834

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddlers Ironmonger

27 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
4 days

In the house of Tom Chapman, Wood, Cargill Street

87/645

2 February 1887

Revd. J. E. Kelly, Congregational Minister

No	37
Date of Notice	2 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Croft	Jane Goodall
	💍 1887/2834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddlers Ironmonger
Age	27 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Tom Chapman, Wood, Cargill Street
Folio	87/645
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. E. Kelly, Congregational Minister

4 February 1887

George Grant Smith
Ann Courtney

George Smith
Annie Gormley
💍 1887/1318

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

45 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
4 years

In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart

87/646

4 February 1887

Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	4 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Grant Smith	Ann Courtney
BDM Match (60%)	George Smith	Annie Gormley
	💍 1887/1318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	45 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart
Folio	87/646
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

4 February 1887

Ezekiel Laverty
Catherine Ann Moloney

Ezekiel Laverty
Catherine Ann Moloney
💍 1887/2836

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

39 years
24 years

Green Island
Green Island

24 years
2 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

87/647

4 February 1887

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	39
Date of Notice	4 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ezekiel Laverty	Catherine Ann Moloney
	💍 1887/2836
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	87/647
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1887
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

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).