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 992

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
249	16 August 1887	Joseph Francis Willcott Ellen Ann Stephen	Joseph Francis Willcox Ellen Maud Shepheard 💍 1887/1860	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	27 24	Christchurch Woolston	3 days 20 years	St. Saviours Church	87/3556	Richard Savage, Father	16 August 1887	Rev. H. B. Cocks
250	17 August 1887	George James Roud Fanny Savage	George James Roud Fanny Savage 💍 1887/603	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 20	Christchurch Opawa	15 years 7 years	Church	87/2257	Savage, Father	17 August 1887	Rev. H. B. Cocks, Church of England
251	17 August 1887	Amos Edward Russell Isabella Spraggett	Amos Edward Russell Isabella Spraggett 💍 1887/588	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 18	Opawa Opawa	6 years 6 years	Church	87/2240	No person in Colony having authority to consent	17 August 1887	Rev. G. J. Cholmondeley, Church of England
252	18 August 1887	Joseph Green Henrietta Helen Peagram	Joseph Green Henrietta Helen Peagram 💍 1887/610	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	32 18	Halkett Halkett	1 year 1 year	Church	87/2263	Peagram, Father	18 August 1887	Rev. W. Duckley, Church of England
253	18 August 1887	Frank Pullan Sarah Birthes	Frank Pullan Sarah Birtles 💍 1887/628	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	23 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 3 weeks	Registrars Office	87/2286	Peter Birthes, Father	18 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages
254	19 August 1887	James Dacie Wrigglesworth Isabelle Waters	James Dacie Wigglesworth Isabelle Waters Sutherland Gunn 💍 1887/627	Widower Spinster	Artist	51 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 days	Registrars Office	87/2285	Isabelle Waters, Fatherland [illegible]	19 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages
255	22 August 1887	Edward Cornelius Vose Alice Aloop	Edward Cornelius Vose Alice Alsop 💍 1887/1977	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 22	Prebbleton Prebbleton	8 years 18 years	Methodist Chapel, Cambridge Terrace	87/2264		22 August 1887	Rev. T. W. Jones, Methodist
256	22 August 1887	Alexander Mollison Anna Maria Gaskell	Alexander Mollison Anna Maria Gaskin 💍 1887/629	Widower Widow	Laborer	45 42	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 14 years	Registrars Office	87/2289		22 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages
257	22 August 1887	Frank Pine Mary Dunn		Bachelor Spinster	Painter Machinist	20 19	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 14 years	Registrars Office	87/2287	No person in Colony having authority to consent in either case	22 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages
258	23 August 1887	George Buchanan Agnes Theodora Hammond	George Buchanan Agnes Theodora Hammond 💍 1887/1830	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	St. Johns Church	87/3549		23 August 1887	Rev. H. E. Watson, Church of England

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).