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 889

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
240	10 August 1887	Oluf Christopherson Nora Olsen	Oluf Christophersen Nora Olsen 💍 1887/3270	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 27	Wellington Wellington	4 years 6 months	Church Webb Street	87/2059		18 August 1887	Rev. W. J. Potter
241	11 August 1887	William Henry Joseph Worth Caroline Kessell	William Henry Joseph Worth Caroline Kessell 💍 1887/1878	Bachelor Spinster	Broomaker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 6 months	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3580		18 August 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
242	18 August 1887	Henry James Argyle Alice Frances Peters	Henry James Argyle Alice Frances Peters 💍 1887/459	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Karori Wellington	4 months 7 years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2037	No relation in Colony	1 September 1887	Mr. J. Wyatt
243	19 August 1887	Philip McBarron Mary Connor	Philip McBarron Mary Connor 💍 1887/404	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	87/2005		19 August 1887	Rev. J. McNamara
244	20 August 1887	William Dermot Robinson Bamber Amina Treacott Augarde	William Dermott Robinson-Bamber Amina Viardott Augarde 💍 1887/428	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	28 29	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2029		20 August 1887	Mr. J. Wyatt
245	22 August 1887	David Ross Lewers Mary Jane Donagher	David Ross Lewers Mary Jane Donagher 💍 1887/429	Widower Spinster	Draper	50 30	Wellington Wellington	3 days 5 months	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2030		22 August 1887	Mr. J. Wyatt
246	22 August 1887	Thomas Woodward Emily Rance	Thomas Woodward Emily Rance 💍 1887/430	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2031		22 August 1887	Mr. J. Wyatt
247	22 August 1887	Richard Wellington Reymond Ada Wheeler	Richard Wellington Raymond Ada Wheeler 💍 1887/446	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	22 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Peters Church	87/2048		22 August 1887	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
248	23 August 1887	James Arthur Smith Mary Ann Clark	James Arthur Smith Mary Ann Clark 💍 1887/454 Arthur South Mary Helena Clark 💍 1888/868	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Free Methodist Church Courtenay Place	87/2055	Joseph Clark, Father	23 August 1887	Rev. Charles Penney
249	27 August 1887	George Miller Louisa Chant	George Miller Louisa Chant 💍 1887/1885	Widower Widow	Labourer	38 34	Wellington Wellington	6 months	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3581		27 August 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
250	29 August 1887	Thomas Parsons Margaret Maria Dwyer	Thomas Parsons Margaret Maria Dwyer 💍 1887/396	Widower Spinster	Brewer	41 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 12 months	St. Andrews Church Wreakgh Terrace	87/1996		29 August 1887	Rev. C. J. Ogg
251	29 August 1887	Robert Symon Hickling Anna Frederica Colson	Robert Symon Hickling Anna Frederica Olson 💍 1887/456	Widower Widow	Mariner	45 38	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2034		29 August 1887	Mr. 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).