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 994

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
269	5 September 1887	Richard Cossing Ellen Willoughty	Richard Coxins Ellen Willoughby 💍 1887/581	Bachelor Spinster	Train driver Servant	28 28	Christchurch Christchurch	18 months 18 months	Congregational Church	87/2234		5 September 1887	Rev. J. Hoaten
270	6 September 1887	Charles Remember Jackson Lillian Threlfoot		Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	22 20	Sydenham Christchurch	12 years 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel	87/2222	William Threlfoot, Father	6 September 1887	Rev. W. H. Keall
271	6 September 1887	John Treleaven Emma Butterworth	John Treleaven Emma Butterworth 💍 1887/591	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 31	Christchurch Christchurch	35 years 3 months	Church	87/2201		6 September 1887	Rev. T. Flavell
272	7 September 1887	Thomas Sandey Charlotte Ball	Thomas Saukey Tolputt Charlotte Ball 💍 1887/632	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	26 18	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Registrars Office	87/2289	Philip Ball, Father	7 September 1887	J. M. Madderson
273	7 September 1887	Thomas Seaford Louisa Small	Thomas Gerrard Louisa Hall 💍 1887/1674	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Dressmaker	24 21	St. Albans Copawa	24 years 4 years	Registrars Office	87/2290		7 September 1887	J. M. Madderson
274	7 September 1887	James Cornwall Mary O'Brien	James Cornwall Mary O'Brien 💍 1887/573 Denis Bradley Mary O'Brien 💍 1887/1880 John Ryan Mary O'Brien 💍 1887/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Servant	38 32	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 6 years	Roman Catholic	87/2218		7 September 1887	Rerd. M. Enright
275	8 September 1887	George Hampton Rhodes Alice Henrietta Thiereus	George Hampton Rhodes Alice Henrietta Thieren 💍 1887/1949	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Christchurch Linwood	3 days 6 years	The Cathedral, Linwood			8 September 1887	Dean Jacobs
276	8 September 1887	Daniel Watson Emma Knett	Daniel Watson Emma Brett 💍 1887/634	Bachelor Widow	Builder	30 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	Registrars Office, Christchurch	87/2291		8 September 1887	J. M. Madderson
277	8 September 1887	Henry Charles Claid Mary Rebecca Harris	Henry Charles Clark Mary Rebecca Harris 💍 1887/1368	Bachelor Spinster	Servant	31 33	Armside Armside	6 months 7 years	Church	87/3118		8 September 1887	Rev. W. A. Pascoe
278	12 September 1887	James Handrang Amelia Alice Stringer	James Handring Amelia Alice Stringer 💍 1887/613	Bachelor Spinster	Baptist Minister	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 7 years	House, Richmond	87/2245		12 September 1887	Rev. E. Vallaston

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).