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 498

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
133	9 May 1887	Thomas William Harris Eliza Doads	Thomas William Harris Eliza Dodds 💍 1887/1736	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	29 27	Kauravra Wellington	years years	House of Mr. James Doads, Adelaide Road	87/3450		9 May 1887	Rev. L. M. Smith
134	9 May 1887	Maurice Wilson Richmond Flora Macdonald	Maurice Wilson Richmond Flora Hursthouse Macdonald 💍 1887/3309	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	27 25	Wellington Nelson	years 2 months	Bishopedale Church	87/1306		9 May 1887	The Right Rev. The Bishop of Nelson
135	9 May 1887	Diedrich Grüneklée Raena Reed	Diedrich Gruneklee Rosena Reeve 💍 1887/65	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	44 44	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1125		9 May 1887	W. T. Wyatt
136	11 May 1887	William Shaw Maggie Adams	William Shaw Maggie Adams 💍 1887/1730	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	31 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Johns Church	87/3445		10 May 1887	Rev. James Paterson
137	10 May 1887	Alfred Harrison Emily Hemory	Alfred Harrison Emily Memory 💍 1887/66	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	38 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1126		10 May 1887	W. T. Wyatt
138	12 May 1887	Walter Lovello Victor Walcott Mary Ann Bailey Keano	Walter Lovells Victor Walsh Mary Ann Bailey Keane 💍 1887/3149	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	22 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years 1 year	House of Mr. George Willis Street	87/1154		12 May 1887	Rev. William Lee
139	16 May 1887	David George McKibbin Mary Elliott	David George McKibbin Mary Elliott 💍 1887/1731	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	30 30	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	House of Mr. Stevenson, Taranaki Street	87/3446		16 May 1887	Rev. James Paterson
140	16 May 1887	Peter Henry Potching Elizabeth Ann Boley	Peter Henry Patching Elizabeth Ann Bovey 💍 1887/1756	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	30 21	Karori Karori	3 months 6 weeks	House of Mr. Ranger	87/3451		16 May 1887	Rev. W. S. Potter
141	16 May 1887	Thomas Corlet Elizabeth Richmond	Thomas Corlett Elizabeth Richmond 💍 1887/3161	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	21 22	Ngahauranga Wellington	2 years 2 years	St. Marks Church	87/1190		16 May 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
142	17 May 1887	Hans Olsen Annie Dorne	Hans Olsen Annie Dorne 💍 1887/67	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	3 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/1127	George Dorne, Father	17 May 1887	W. T. Wyatt
143	21 May 1887	Patrick Sumer Mary Ayhward	Patrick Turner Mary Aylward 💍 1887/3138	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 29	Wellington Wellington	5 weeks 1 week	St. Mary of the Angels	87/1165		21 May 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
144	23 May 1887	Eberhard Focke Rose Christina Meile	Eberhard Focke Rose Christina Merlet 💍 1887/3162	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	35 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	87/1191		23 May 1887	Rev. R. Coffey

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).