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 496

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
109	15 April 1887	William Routley Mary Jane Knott	William Routley Mary Jane Knott 💍 1887/3145	Bachelor Spinster	Nurseryman	31 27	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Wesleyan Church	87/1173		15 April 1887	Rev. D. J. Murray
110	15 April 1887	Henry John Sidswell Sarah Annah Lennan	Henry John Tidswell Sarah Ann McLennan 💍 1887/3121	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	24 31	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 months	Registrar's office	87/1121		15 April 1887	W. T. Wyatt
111	18 April 1887	William George North Harriet Jane McIntosh	William George North Harriet Jane McIntosh 💍 1887/3173	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	38 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. McIntosh, College Street	87/1178		18 April 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott
112	18 April 1887	Henry Martin Davis Kathleen Farrell	Henry Martin Davis Kathleen Farrell 💍 1887/3135	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/1162		18 April 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
113	18 April 1887	John Curtis Bolton Ann Power	John Curtis Bolton Ann Power 💍 1887/3148	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	25 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Wesleyan Church	87/1153		18 April 1887	Rev. William Lee
114	18 April 1887	John Peat Margaret Isabella Ling	John Peat Margaret Isabella Ling 💍 1887/3176	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Paul's Cathedral	87/1181		18 April 1887	Rev. John Still
115	19 April 1887	Michael Divine Margaret Bradley	Michael Devine Margaret Bradley 💍 1887/3134	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year 2 years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/1161		18 April 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
116	19 April 1887	Joseph William Backhouse Ellen Philp	Joseph William Backhouse Ellen Philp 💍 1887/3109	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	87/1110		18 April 1887	Venble. Archdeacon Stock
117	18 April 1887	Frederic Lee Emily Louise Kilfoy	Frederic Lee Emily Louise Kelpy 💍 1887/3159	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	25 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	87/1188	Rosetta Lucy Kilfoy, mother	18 April 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
118	19 April 1887	Frederick Keberger Wilhelmina Ada Danitz	Frederick Meyer Wilhelmina Ada Danitz 💍 1887/3136	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	St. Mary of the Angels	87/1163		19 April 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
119	21 April 1887	Malcolm Snoud Annie Sutton	Malcolm Snoad Annie Cutten 💍 1887/3122	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	23 17	Wellington Wellington	1 year year	Registrar's office	87/1122	Elizabeth Ann Lewis, mother	21 April 1887	W. T. Wyatt
120	22 April 1887	William Rendan Annie Elizabeth Prouse	William Burdan Annie Elizabeth Prouse 💍 1887/3153	Widower Spinster	Farmer	29 24	Wainuiomata Wainuiomata	years years	House of Mr. Prouse, Wainuiomata	87/1174		22 April 1887	Rev. T. J. Murray

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).