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 494

District of Wellington 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
85	1 April 1887	George Thomas Stephenson Mary Lockyer	George Thomas Stephenson Mary Lockyer 💍 1887/3118	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1118		1 April 1887	W. T. Wyatt
86	2 April 1887	Henry King Betty Griggs	Henry King Etty Greeks 💍 1887/3111	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 21	Wellington Cambridge Terrace	years years	House of Mrs. Edwards	87/1112		2 April 1887	Rev. Charles Penney
87	4 April 1887	Robert Hannah Annie August O'Neill	Robert Hannah Annie August O'Neill 💍 1887/3114	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1115		4 April 1887	W. T. Wyatt
88	4 April 1887	John Clarke Laura Price	John Clarke Laura Price 💍 1887/1846	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	28 21	Ngahauranga Ngahauranga	years years	St. Andrews Church Wellington	87/3566		4 April 1887	Rev. G. J. Gagg
89	4 April 1887	Andrew Todd Jane King	Andrew Todd Janey Stewart Maclean King 💍 1887/3402	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	21 19	Wellington Dunedin	years years	House of Mr. King, Leith Street Dunedin	87/1557	Consent to be given in Dunedin	4 April 1887	Rev. L. M. Stuart
90	4 April 1887	William Jonson Ann McDermott	William Jonson Ann McDermot 💍 1887/3115	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	40 36	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1116		4 April 1887	W. T. Wyatt
91	4 April 1887	Richard James McKenzie Ellen Collyer	Richard James McKenzie Ellen Collyer 💍 1887/3112	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. G. Collyer, Reddiford Street	87/1113		4 April 1887	Rev. Charles Penney
92	5 April 1887	William Henry Festhey Florence Jane Ramson	William Henry Frethey Florence Jane Ransom 💍 1887/3143	Widower Spinster	Grocer	45 33	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr. John Ramson, Lower Hutt	87/1171		5 April 1887	Rev. D. J. Murray
93	5 April 1887	Thomas George Bell Marcella Josephine Pickering	Thomas George Bell Marcella Josephine Pilkington 💍 1887/1727	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 25	Wellington Wellington	1 month 2 years	House of Mr. James Steele, Majoribanks Street	87/3442		5 April 1887	Rev. James Paterson
94	5 April 1887	Henry William Killington Tressa Forest Johnson	Henry William Lellington Teresa Foreste Johnson 💍 1887/1763	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	29 28	Gladstone Wellington	years 8 months	House of Rev. W. H. West, Bolton Street Wellington	87/3455		5 April 1887	Rev. W. H. West
95	6 April 1887	George Wilson Moorhouse Letitia Duff	George Wilson Moorhouse Letitia Duff 💍 1887/3146	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	27 39	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Rev. W. C. Oliver	87/1151		6 April 1887	Rev. W. C. Oliver
96	6 April 1887	Hugh Bradley Margaret Cox	Hugh Bradley Margaret Cox 💍 1887/3151	Widower Spinster	Labourer	29 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	87/1156		6 April 1887	Rev. John McNamara

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).