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 1229

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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
45	5 October 1887	William Thomas Garland Minnie Eliza Russell		Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Mailman	23 23	Wanganui Wanganui	23 yrs 23 yrs	In the residence of Mr. [illegible] Harrison Street	87/2739		5 October 1887	W. S. Watkin, Wesleyan
46	7 October 1887	Euros Horn Catherine Hall		Widower Widow	Settler	62 47	Wanganui Wanganui	29 yrs 10 yrs	In the residence of Rev. James Treadwell, Wanganui	87/2740		7 October 1887	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
47	18 October 1887	Arthur Edward Turton Harriett Foster		Bachelor Spinster		29 25	Sedgbrook Wanganui	12 mos 3 wks	In the Church of England, Putiki	87/2744		18 October 1887	P. L. H. Cameron, Church of England
48	20 October 1887	Henry Spence Bruce Helen Spence Bruce Mouatt	Henry Spencer Grey Harper Helen Spence Bruce Mouott 💍 1887/1099	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	25 22	Wanganui Wanganui	3 mos 2 wks	In the Church of England, Putiki	87/2745		20 October 1887	A. O. Williams, Church of England
49	26 October 1887	Thomas Johnson Maria Hatcher	Thomas Johnson Maria Hatcher 💍 1887/1067	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 17	Wanganui Springvale	14 yrs 13 yrs	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui	87/2736	James Hatcher, Father	26 October 1887	W. S. Watkin, Wesleyan
50	3 November 1887	Ernest Albert Barton Margaret Eleanor Dawson Harper	Ernest Albert Barton Margaret Eleanor Dawson Harper 💍 1887/1100	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	24 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 21 yrs	In the Church of England, Wanganui	87/2746		3 November 1887	A. O. Williams, Church of England
51	4 November 1887	Benjamin Conrad Robbins Jane Ann Ross	Benjamin Conrad Robbins Jane Ann Ross 💍 1887/1090	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 26	Wanganui Wanganui	5 1/2 yrs 22 yrs	In the residence of D. M. D. Ross, Hawera	87/2742		4 November 1887	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
52	8 November 1887	William Henry Stalley Elizabeth Catherine Tummers	William Henry Staples Elizabeth Catherine Kennerley 💍 1887/1079 William James Batchelor Elizabeth Catherine Maguire 💍 1887/3471 William Henry Gore Elizabeth Mahoney 💍 1888/3517	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	25 24	Wanganui Sedgbrook	4 days 5 wks	In the residence of Mr. M. Kennerley, Sedgbrook	87/2741		8 November 1887	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
53	8 November 1887	Frederick Ernest Tristleton Rachel Darbyshire	Frederick Fiennes Twisleton Rachel Darbyshire 💍 1887/1102	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 28	Maxwelltown Maxwelltown	1 yr 20 yrs	In the residence of William Darbyshire, Maxwelltown	87/2748		8 November 1887	P. L. H. Cameron, 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).