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 990

District of Christchurch 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
229	25 July 1887	Henry William Candercle Lettie Branigan	Henry William Caudwell Nellie Branigan 💍 1887/640	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	Registrar Office	87/2276		25 July 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Maddison
230	25 July 1887	James Bootle Mitchell Jessie Euphemia Smith	James Booth Mitchell Bessie Emma Smith 💍 1887/595	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic Servant	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 4 years	St. Michael's Church	87/2224		25 July 1887	Rev. H. Y. Purchase, Church of England
231	27 July 1887	James Carr Eliza Jane Earles	James Carr Elizabeth Ann Earles 💍 1887/561	Widower Spinster	Farmer Housekeeper	53 38	Spreydon Spreydon	13 years 1 week	House of Sr. Carr	87/2213		27 July 1887	Rev. T. B. Button, Methodist
232	28 July 1887	Frank Healy Elizabeth Caroline Spinks	Frank Healy Elizabeth Carleton 💍 1887/1829	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Christchurch Riccarton	3 days 10 years	St. John's Church	87/3548		28 July 1887	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, Church of England
233	28 July 1887	Henry Isaac Brown Jane Eafer Anderson	Henry Isaac Monkhouse Jane Eager Anderson 💍 1887/641	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	35 25	Halswell Halswell	3 years 3 years	Registrar Office	87/2277		28 July 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Maddison
234	29 July 1887	William Hunter Ellen Eliza Moses	William Hunter Ellen Eliza Moses 💍 1887/598	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer Dressmaker	27 20	Richmond Ferry Road	9 months 3 years	House of Sr. Moses	87/2243	Richard Moses, Father	29 July 1887	Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist
235	1 August 1887	John Duncan Huston Ellen Elizabeth Salt	John Duncan Huston Ellen Elizabeth Salt 💍 1887/616	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Dressmaker	24 23	Christchurch Salt Barbados	9 months 6 years	House of Henry Salt	87/2249		1 August 1887	Rev. W. S. Williams, Wesleyan
236	1 August 1887	Edwin Lilyherbert Burrowes		Bachelor Spinster	Billiard Marker Servant	34 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 5 days	Registrar Office	87/2278		1 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Maddison
237	1 August 1887	James Patterson Martha Phillips	James Patterson Martha Phillips 💍 1887/621 Henry Anderson Mary Phillips 💍 1887/2668	Widower Widow	Hotel Manager Housekeeper	50 52	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 6 years	Registrar Office	87/2279		1 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Maddison
238	2 August 1887	Job Mundy Mary Ann Lee	Job Mundy Mary Ann Lee 💍 1887/622	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Servant	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 14 years	Registrar Office	87/2280		2 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Maddison

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).