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 591

District of Rangiora 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
511	11 April 1887	William McBride Mary Isabella Allen	William McBride Mary Isabella Allen 💍 1887/3468 William Morrie Sarah Allen 💍 1887/2497	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Laborer Domestic Servant	28 23	Sefton Rangiora	7 years 6 months	Presbyterian Church Ashley	87/1348		11 April 1887	Rev. Jas. McKellar
512	11 April 1887	William Kennedy Hannah C. H. Affleck	William Kennedy Hannah Christina Henrietta Alfield 💍 1887/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic Servant	28 24	Rangiora Rangiora	13 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church	87/1353		11 April 1887	Rev. Robt. McGregor
513	11 April 1887	Alfred Horne Margaret C. Alexander	Alfred Horne Margaret Ogilvey Alexander 💍 1887/3477	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Not any	29 41	Woodend Rangiora Woodend	8 years 11 years	Dwelling House	87/1356		11 April 1887	Rev. Robt. A. Munro
514	12 April 1887	James Marshall Jessie Barclay Lack	James Marshall Jessie Barcloy Jack 💍 1887/1792	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic Servant	27 22	Rangiora Rangiora	9 years 3 years	Residence of Jas. Barclay Lack	87/1350		12 April 1887	Rev. Robt. A. Munro
515	18 April 1887	Henry Blackett Jane Torrevill Waller	Henry Blackett Jane Corrigill Waller 💍 1887/3469	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Not any	33 26	Rangiora Loburn	28 years 20 years	Dwelling House of Robert Waller	87/1349		18 April 1887	Rev. Richd. Lout
516	20 April 1887	William Batchelor Elizabeth Faith McQuire	William James Batchelor Elizabeth Catherine Maguire 💍 1887/3471	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	21 21	Mt Grey Downs Mt Grey Downs	21 years 3 months	Office of Registrar	87/1351		20 April 1887	A. H. Cunningham Registrar
517	23 May 1887	James Wm Booth Mary Lang	James William Booth Mary Lang 💍 1887/1803	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	24 25	Woodend Waikuku	24 years 4 years	Dwelling House of Hy. Knewstubb	87/1350		23 May 1887	Rev. Paul W. Fairchild
518	13 June 1887	Thomas Studden Margaret Mowatt	Thomas Skudder Margaret Mowatt 💍 1887/3473	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Not any	24 20	Ashley Ashley	7 years 19 years	Office of Registrar	87/1352	Donald Mowatt, father	13 June 1887	A. H. Cunningham Registrar
519	17 June 1887	Joseph Stanton Margaret Walker	Tom Wilkinson Margaret Walker 💍 1887/249	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Not any	25 21	Woodend Woodend	21 years 21 years	Wesleyan Church	87/1354		17 June 1887	Rev. Jas. Perfold
520	20 June 1887	Charles Wm Withell Sarah Downs	Charles William Withell Sarah Dowds 💍 1887/3470	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Not any	28 28	Ashley Ashley	3 days 15 years	Dwelling House of John Downs	87/1350		20 June 1887	Rev. Wm. Keall
521	28 June 1887	Samuel Coats Mary Ann Keele	Samuel Coates Mary Ann Keele 💍 1887/3476	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	30 22	Rangiora Swamp Rangiora	5 years 12 years	Church of England Rangiora	87/1355		28 June 1887	Rev. B. W. Dudley

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).