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 1245

District of Wellington 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
280	2 October 1887	George Jem Langley Susannah Ann Parker	George Tom Langley Susanna Ann Parker 💍 1887/1109	Bachelor Spinster	Attendant at Asylum	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years 11 months	Home of Rev. J. K. Elliott	87/2780		3 October 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott
281	3 October 1887	David Munro Annie Bongo	David Munro Annie Benge 💍 1887/1150	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 22	Wellington Wellington	14 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2797		3 October 1887	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
282	3 October 1887	Joseph Desmond Elizabeth Wilson	Joseph Desmond Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1887/1149 Thomas Mawson Elizabeth Wilson 💍 1887/657	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Proprietor	28 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2796		3 October 1887	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
283	6 October 1887	Charles Thompson Mercy Sarah Alicia Finch	Charles Thompson Mercy Sarah Allice Finch 💍 1887/1170	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Finch, Majoribanks Street	87/2840	Frederick Arthur Finch, Father	6 October 1887	Rev. Charles Penney
284	6 October 1887	Arthur Albert Broome Mary Ann Bethia Durrant	Arthur Albert Browne Mary Ann Bethia Durrant 💍 1887/1991	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Durrant, Taranaki Street	87/2854		6 October 1887	Rev. W. J. Potter
285	11 October 1887	Frank Reeve Elizabeth Donovan	Frank Reeve Elizabeth Donovan 💍 1887/1151	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2798		11 October 1887	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
286	12 October 1887	John Knox Hamilton Alice Julia Brooks	John Knox Hamilton Alice Julia Brooks 💍 1887/1162	Bachelor Divorcee	Hotel Keeper	34 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	New Zealander Hotel, Manners Street	87/2833		12 October 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
287	15 October 1887	George Henry Yates Mary Theresa Byrne	George Henry Yates Mary Theresa Byrne 💍 1887/1120	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 25	Wellington Wellington	9 months years	St. Peters Church	87/2790		15 October 1887	Rev. H. E. Tuckey
288	15 October 1887	Peter Charles McQueen Elizabeth Loombs	Peter Charles McQueen Connell Elizabeth Toombs 💍 1887/1152	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2799		15 October 1887	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
289	17 October 1887	William Rice Rose Hannah Edwards	William Rice Rose Hannah Edwards 💍 1887/1130	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/2801	Joseph Edwards, Father	17 October 1887	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
290	17 October 1887	John James Boyd Iomena Conmee	John James Boyd Jamena Conmee 💍 1887/1992	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 25	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	Primitive Methodist Parsonage, Webb Street	87/2855		17 October 1887	Rev. W. J. Potter
291	17 October 1887	Peter Still Violet Emily Haselden	Peter Stile Violet Emily Haselden 💍 1887/1110	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	31 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Haselden, Price Street	87/2781		17 October 1887	Rev. J. Simcox

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).