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 885

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
192	4 July 1887	Samuel McShene Margaret Johnson	Samuel McShene Margaret Johnston 💍 1887/412	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	22 22	Wellington Wellington	3 months years	House of the [illegible]	87/1992		4 July 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott
193	4 July 1887	Olive Lawson Elizabeth Coleman	Olive Lawson Elizabeth Coleman 💍 1887/1859	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	34 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3578		4 July 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
194	5 July 1887	Albert Richards Priscilla Brewer	Albert Richards Priscilla Brewer 💍 1887/444	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	87/2046		5 July 1887	Ven.ble Archdeacon Stock
195	5 July 1887	William McLean Elizabeth McLean	William McLean Elizabeth McLean 💍 1887/437	Bachelor Spinster	Boilermaker	23 18	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	Registrars Office, Wellington	87/2015	John McLean, Father	5 July 1887	W. T. Wyatt
196	5 July 1887	Alfred Best Margaret Human	Alfred Best Margaret Hume 💍 1887/1819	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 21	Ohariu Ohariu	years years	House of Mr. Human, Ohariu	87/3535		5 July 1887	Rev. James Paterson
197	7 July 1887	Daniel Alexander Johnstone Ada Smith	Daniel Alexander Johnstone Ada Smith 💍 1887/436	Bachelor Spinster	Wholesale Chemist	22 22	Wellington Wellington	9 months 4 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	87/2014		7 July 1887	W. T. Wyatt
198	7 July 1887	Ernest Stanley Garrett Julia Jane Jones	Ernest Stanley Garrett Julia Jane Jones 💍 1887/3255	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 22	Johnsonville Johnsonville	years 6 weeks	St. Pauls Cathedral	87/2069		7 July 1887	Rev. John Still
199	8 July 1887	Charles Gily Grace Louisa George	Charles Grey Grace Louisa Geange 💍 1887/413	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	35 20	Wellington Upper Hutt	3 days years	House of Mr. George, Upper Hutt	87/2007	Father	8 July 1887	Rev. G. J. Lane
200	8 July 1887	John Ross Thompson Jane Read Logan	John Ross Thompson Jane Read Logan 💍 1887/414	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	87/2016	George Wilson, Guardian	8 July 1887	W. T. Wyatt
201	11 July 1887	Bernard Vogt Henrietta Louisa Meeks	Bernard Vogh Henrietta Louisa Brooks 💍 1887/3274	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	15 months 12 months	House of Mr. Brooks, Parliament Street	87/2063		11 July 1887	Rev. T. N. Hunter
202	11 July 1887	Charles Hodgem Margaret Berg	Charles Hodgson Margaret Berg 💍 1887/394	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	24 19	Wellington Wellington	12 months years	St. Marks Church	87/1994	Henry Berg, Father	11 July 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
203	11 July 1887	Patrick Mullan Margaret Cloherly	Patrick Mullan Margaret Cloherty 💍 1887/402	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	St. Marys Cathedral	87/2004		11 July 1887	Rev. J. 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).