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 887

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
216	20 July 1887	John Toomer Caroline Neuman	John Toomer Caroline Newman 💍 1887/417	Widower Widow	Bookmaker	40 39	Wellington Wellington	2 months 14 days	Registrars office Wellington	87/2019		20 July 1887	W. J. Wyatt
217	20 July 1887	William Williams Lydia Augusta Devereux	William Williams Lydia Myrtle Devereux 💍 1887/3276	Bachelor Spinster	Railway	28 30	Wellington Lower Hutt	3 days years	House of C. C. Roberts Lower Hutt	87/2065		20 July 1887	Rev. P. N. Hunter
218	1 August 1887	William Henry Glover Bramley Agnes Cameron Hald	William Henry Glover Bramley Agnes Lamerton Hall 💍 1887/3254	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 26	Karori Road Karori Road	years years	Primitive Methodist Church Sydney Street	87/2066		1 August 1887	Rev. P. N. Hunter
219	1 August 1887	Allan Knapp Jane Roberts	Alban Knapp Jane Roberts 💍 1887/425	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2026	No relation in Colony	15 August 1887	W. J. Wyatt
220	2 August 1887	John Copland Julia Carty	John Copland Julia Carty 💍 1887/419	Bachelor Spinster	Permanent artillery force	30 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2021		2 August 1887	W. J. Wyatt
221	3 August 1887	Julian Percival Pratt Elizabeth Margaretta Pillatt	Justin Percival Pratt Elizabeth Margaretta Pellatt 💍 1887/420	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	20 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2022		3 August 1887	W. J. Wyatt
222	6 August 1887	Axel Bond Knudson Maria Bennett	Axel Bond Knutson Maria Bennett 💍 1887/3273	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	23 23	Wellington Lower Hutt	1 week years	House of Mr. Bennett Lower Hutt	87/2062		6 August 1887	Rev. D. J. Murray
223	8 August 1887	John Thomas Tahy Mary Jane de Stevain	John Thomas Fahy Mary Jane McElwain 💍 1887/393 John Thomas Taylor Mary Jane Wickham 💍 1888/442	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	22 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Rodgers Queen Street	87/1993		8 August 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott
224	9 August 1887	Arthur James Bellows Martha Lutchele	Arthur James Billows Martha Mitchell 💍 1887/432	Bachelor Spinster	Commission agent	21 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	87/2010		9 August 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
225	10 August 1887	John Shout Agnes McIveron	John Shout Agnes McGovern 💍 1887/1867	Bachelor Widow	Cook	29 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3579		10 August 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
226	10 August 1887	David Armstrong Ogilvie Catherine Young	David Armstrong Ogilvie Catherine Young 💍 1887/1820	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. John Young Adelaide Road	87/3536		10 August 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
227	10 August 1887	Charles Edward Forbes Barbara Kerr	Charles Edward Forbes Barbara Kerr 💍 1887/421	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 21	Lower Hutt Wellington	9 weeks 9 months	Registrars office Wellington	87/2023		10 August 1887	W. J. Wyatt

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).