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 482

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 June 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
5	26 April 1887	William Jenkins Fanny Tricker	William Jenkins Fanny Tricker 💍 1887/2273	Bachelor Spinster	Stockman	24 24	Bulls Bulls	12 years 17 years	St. Andrew's Church Bulls	87/1084		26 April 1887	Rev. John E. Blackburn
6	29 April 1887	Frederic Wilson Mary Allison	Frederic Wilson Mary Allison 💍 1887/2272	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 32	Marton Marton	3 days 3 days	St. Stephen's Church Marton	87/1083		29 April 1887	Rev. A. Towgood
7	2 May 1887	Robert Stokes Mary Ann Fletcher	Robert Stokes Mary Ann Fletcher 💍 1887/2293 Phillip Steinmer Mary Ann Fletcher 💍 1887/1774	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 17	Bulls Bulls	6 days 11 years	The house of Mrs. Brown Bulls	87/1081	William Fletcher, Father	2 May 1887	Rev. J. Boull
8	6 May 1887	Henry Albert William Ward Elizabeth Shaw	Henry Albert William Ward Elizabeth Shaw 💍 1887/1873	Bachelor Widow	Labour	22 30	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	1 year 7 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Marton	87/3593		6 May 1887	J. M. Deighton, Registrar
9	18 May 1887	Walter Edward Rowlands Annie Reed	Walter Edward Rowlands Annie Reed 💍 1887/2274	Bachelor Spinster	Livery Stable Keeper	26 19	Bulls Bulls	7 years 10 years	The house of Mr. Edward Reed Bulls	87/1085	Edward Reed, Father	19 May 1887	Rev. C. Kirk
10	24 May 1887	Thomas King Catherine Winifred Bruce	Thomas King Catherine Winnifred Vance 💍 1887/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant Teacher	39 26	Bulls Bulls	1 year 2 years	The house of Rev. D. Gordon Marton	87/1078		24 May 1887	Rev. D. Gordon
11	30 May 1887	Charles Fawthorpe Sarah Charlotte Gray	Charles Fanthorp Sarah Charlote Gray 💍 1887/3645	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 24	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	14 days 14 years	The Presbyterian Church Upper Hutt	87/1079		30 May 1887	Rev. D. Gordon
12	6 June 1887	James Gair Marion Humphries	James Gair Marion Hempseed 💍 1887/2289	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Rangitikei Franklin Dale	18 months 20 years	The house of Mr. John Humphries Franklin Dale	87/1076	John Humphries, Father	6 June 1887	Rev. John Ross
13	15 June 1887	Malcolm John McGregor Carrie Lee Hockly	Malcolm John McGregor Carrie Lee Hockly 💍 1887/2290	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Paraekaretu Turakina	9 years 18 months	The Presbyterian Manse Turakina	87/1077	Lucy Maria Hockly, Mother	14 June 1887	Rev. J. Ross

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).