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 287

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

10 February 1887

Henry Matthews
Emily Kirby

Henry Matthews
Emily Kirby
💍 1887/2865

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

26 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
10 years

In the house of Revd Dr Stuart

87/653

10 February 1887

Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

No	45
Date of Notice	10 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Matthews	Emily Kirby
	💍 1887/2865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd Dr Stuart
Folio	87/653
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

11 February 1887

Marwood Allen
Jane Turnbull Kinimont

Marwood Allen
Jane Turnbull Kininmont
💍 1887/2866

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter carrier

24 years
23 years

Kensington
North East Valley

5 months
7 years

In the house of Henry Kinimont

87/654

11 February 1887

Revd J White Wesleyan Minister

No	46
Date of Notice	11 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marwood Allen	Jane Turnbull Kinimont
BDM Match (98%)	Marwood Allen	Jane Turnbull Kininmont
	💍 1887/2866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter carrier
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Kensington	North East Valley
Length of Residence	5 months	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Henry Kinimont
Folio	87/654
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd J White Wesleyan Minister

12 February 1887

Edward Alexander Gibson
Margaret Prentice

Edward Alexander Gibson
Margaret Prentice
💍 1887/2867

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

23 years
19 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 months
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

87/655

Elizabeth Prentice Mother of Minor

12 February 1887

A. R. Ure Registrar of Marriages

No	47
Date of Notice	12 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alexander Gibson	Margaret Prentice
	💍 1887/2867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	87/655
Consent	Elizabeth Prentice Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 February 1887
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure Registrar of Marriages

14 February 1887

Thomas Henry Joyce
Rose Ann McAlary

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

29 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
4 years

In St Josephs Cathedral

14 February 1887

Revd P. Lynch Roman Catholic Priest

No	48
Date of Notice	14 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Joyce	Rose Ann McAlary
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	29 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In St Josephs Cathedral
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd P. Lynch Roman Catholic Priest

15 February 1887

Robert Brown Junr
Helen Christie

Robert Brown Junior
Helen Christie
💍 1887/2868

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 weeks

In Knox Church

87/656

15 February 1887

Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	15 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown Junr	Helen Christie
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Brown Junior	Helen Christie
	💍 1887/2868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	87/656
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart Presbyterian Minister

15 February 1887

William Joseph Davie
Margaret Annie Walls

William Joseph Davie
Margaret Annie Walls
💍 1887/2869

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter

28 years
21 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

7 years
21 years

In St Pauls Church

87/657

15 February 1887

Ven Archdeacon Edwards Church of England Minister

No	50
Date of Notice	15 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Davie	Margaret Annie Walls
	💍 1887/2869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	21 years
Marriage Place	In St Pauls Church
Folio	87/657
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Edwards Church of England Minister

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).