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 899

District of Masterton 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
21	21 July 1887	Henry Haenslow Mary Jane Shoekman	Lewis Henry Hounslow Mary Jane Spackman 💍 1887/3265	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 18	Masterton Masterton	4 years 2 Months	House of Mr Shoekman	87/2076	George Shoekman, father	21 July 1887	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
22	22 July 1887	James Stone Maria Grantham	James Stone Hannah Maria Grantham 💍 1887/3266	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	34 38	Olashuao Manaia	7 years 7 years	House of Mrs George Grantham	87/2077		27 July 1887	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
23	23 July 1887	Edwin Gibb Ellen Wright	Edum Gibb Ellen Wright 💍 1887/3269	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Dressmaker	27 20	Masterton Masterton	3 Months 3 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/2081	Eliza Wright, Mother	29 July 1887	John Bagge, Registrar
24	2 August 1887	Angus Fraser Jane Morris	Angus Fraser Jane Morris 💍 1887/3267 Thomas George Petty Jane Morris 💍 1888/424	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	30 20	Homebush Masterton Mangakuta	3 years 20 years	House of Mr John Morris	87/2078	John Morris, Father	2 August 1887	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
25	17 August 1887	Edward Edmonds Ellen OBrien	Arthur Edward Edmonds Ellen O'Brien 💍 1887/3268	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 21	Masterton Masterton	14 days 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel Masterton	87/2079		14 August 1887	Rev Patrick Tracy, Roman Catholic Priest
26	6 September 1887	Peter Petersen Sene Jensen	Peter Petersen Sena Jensen 💍 1887/3263	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	27 21	Mauriceville Mauriceville	9 years 4 Months	House of Mr Hans Hansen Wrigley	87/2075		6 September 1887	Rev J. H. Buttle, Wesleyan Minister
27	9 September 1887	Thomas Ruane Johanna OSullivan	Thomas Ruane Johanna Sullivan 💍 1887/1966	Bachelor Spinster	Labour Servant	24 26	Masterton Masterton	14 days 3 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	87/2080		10 September 1887	Rev Patrick Tracy, Roman Catholic Priest
28	19 September 1887	Martin Salanson Annie Winter	Martin Svensen Annie Winter 💍 1887/2350	Bachelor Widow	Labour	33 22	Mauriceville Masterton	2 years 6 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	87/2052		19 September 1887	John Bagge, Registrar

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).