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 920

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1887 Registrar S. I. Iago

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

2 July 1887

Hugh Barry
Katherine Johnson

Hugh Barry
Katherine Johnson
💍 1887/1912

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabman
Dressmaker

25
23

Napier
Taradale

2 years
23 years

Kumion Station

87/3632

2 July 1887

Rev. Father Yardin, Roman Catholic Priest, Meanee

No	H3
Date of Notice	2 July 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Barry	Katherine Johnson
	💍 1887/1912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabman	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Taradale
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Kumion Station
Folio	87/3632
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Yardin, Roman Catholic Priest, Meanee

5 July 1887

Wm Frederick Harrington
Charlotte Cockayne

William Frederick Harrington
Charlotte Cockayne
💍 1887/3652

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

25
21

Napier
Napier

5 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

87/2103

5 July 1887

S. I. Iago, Registrar, Napier

No	H4
Date of Notice	5 July 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm Frederick Harrington	Charlotte Cockayne
BDM Match (91%)	William Frederick Harrington	Charlotte Cockayne
	💍 1887/3652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	87/2103
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1887
Officiating Minister	S. I. Iago, Registrar, Napier

19 July 1887

George Herbert Smith
Annie Lut Lea

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach-
Housemaid

22
21

Napier
Napier

16 years
3 years

St. John's Church, Napier

87/2108

19 July 1887

Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England, Napier

No	H5
Date of Notice	19 July 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Smith	Annie Lut Lea
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach-	Housemaid
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Napier
Folio	87/2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England, Napier

19 July 1887

Herbert Thomas Anges
Mary Elizabeth Goldfinch

Hubert Thomas Amyes
Mary Elizabeth Goldfinch
💍 1887/1823

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

23
25

Matapiro
Napier

3 years
10 days

Presbyterian Church, Napier

87/3539

19 July 1887

Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Napier

No	H6
Date of Notice	19 July 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Thomas Anges	Mary Elizabeth Goldfinch
BDM Match (90%)	Hubert Thomas Amyes	Mary Elizabeth Goldfinch
	💍 1887/1823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Matapiro	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	87/3539
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister, Napier

20 July 1887

James Coogan
Catherine Hayden

James Cosgrove
Catherine Haydon
💍 1887/3659

James Lingehan
Catherine McCafferty
💍 1887/734

James Quinn
Catherine McMahon
💍 1887/1751

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabdriver
Housemaid

33
25

Napier
Napier

11 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

87/2110

20 July 1887

Rev. Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest, Napier

No	H7
Date of Notice	20 July 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Coogan	Catherine Hayden
BDM Match (79%)	James Cosgrove	Catherine Haydon
	💍 1887/3659
BDM Match (62%)	James Lingehan	Catherine McCafferty
	💍 1887/734
BDM Match (62%)	James Quinn	Catherine McMahon
	💍 1887/1751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabdriver	Housemaid
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	87/2110
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest, Napier

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).