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 510

District of Masterton 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
10	10 April 1887	Pineaha To Mahauareke Makere Waito	Pineaha Te Mahauariki Makere Waito 💍 1887/1765	Widower Widow	Native Clergyman	about 50 50	Masterton Masterton	native 50 years	Church of England	87/3457		15 April 1887	Rev. W. E. Paige
11	15 April 1887	Joseph Miller Norah Morrisey	Joseph Miller Norah Morrissey 💍 1887/2317	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	22 22	Pahiatua Pahiatua	bureko bureko	Roman Catholic	87/1206		15 April 1887	Rev. Patrick Triacy
12	25 April 1887	Francis Housius Sheath Agnes Hume	Francis Aloysius Sheath Agnes Hulme 💍 1887/3167	Bachelor Spinster	Rabbit Agent	31 27	Masterton Tauanui Lower Valley	3 days 27 years	Burnside Church, Featherston	87/1195		26 April 1887	Rev. W. T. Western
13	4 May 1887	William Betty Junior Elizabeth Handcock Green	William Betty Elizabeth Havelock Green 💍 1887/2296	Bachelor Spinster	Letter Carrier Dressmaker	23 23	Masterton Masterton	2 months 10 years	Wesleyan Church, Masterton	87/1209		4 May 1887	Rev. J. N. Buttle
14	14 May 1887	William James Fisher Hannah Loney	William James Foster Hannah Loney 💍 1887/2297	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 25	Masterton Masterton	3 years 11 days	House of Mr. Thomas Knight, Bentley Street, Masterton	87/1210		14 May 1887	Rev. J. N. Buttle
15	20 May 1887	Arthur Joseph Chamberlain Mary Wilton	Arthur Joseph Chamberlain Mary Wilton 💍 1887/2314	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	22 19	Upper Plain Upper Plain	21 years 10 years	House of Mr. Thomas Wilton, Upper Plain	87/1203	Thomas Wilton, Father	20 May 1887	Rev. David Fulton
16	25 May 1887	Charles Edward Blewett Carrie H. Auberg	Charles Edward Blewett Carrie Hanberg 💍 1887/2315	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 21	Dreyers Rock Masterton	3 months 7 days	House of Mrs. Gurney, Smith Street, Masterton	87/1204		26 May 1887	Rev. David Fulton
17	26 May 1887	John Tait Lavinia Chandler	John Tait Lavinia Chandler 💍 1887/2298	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 18	Masterton Masterton	3 years 6 years	House of Rev. J. N. Buttle, Masterton	87/1211	Mary Anne Chandler, Mother	26 May 1887	Rev. J. N. Buttle
18	9 June 1887	Joseph Williams Elizabeth Jones	Joseph Williams Elizabeth Jones 💍 1887/2299	Widower Widow	Tobacconist Housekeeper	36 32	Masterton Masterton	10 years 4 years	House of Mr. Joseph William, Cole Street	87/1212		9 June 1887	Rev. J. N. Buttle
19	11 June 1887	Thomas Vero Maunsell Maria Ellen Glen	Thomas Vero Maunsell Marion Hellen Glen 💍 1887/2316	Bachelor Spinster	Station hand	22 25	Brancepeth Masterton	2 years 4 weeks	House of Mr. S. A. Hickson, Masterton	87/1205		11 June 1887	Rev. David Fulton

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).