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 1249

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
328	24 November 1887	James Leach (commonly Portland) Elizabeth Wildman Townsend		Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	32 19	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 year	St. Peters Church	87/2793	Richard Townsend, father	24 November 1887	Rev. N. E. Tuckey
329	24 November 1887	James Collins Amelia Kelly	James Collins Amelia Kelly 💍 1887/1157	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	41 37	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Pauls	87/2828		24 November 1887	Rev. John Still
330	24 November 1887	Leonard Greenerson Reid Elizabeth Hale	Leonard Greenwall Reid Elizabeth Hall 💍 1887/1158	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	35 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	Cathedral	87/2829		24 November 1887	Rev. John Still
331	25 November 1887	William Furner Richardson Ellen McNamara	William Furner Richardson Ellen McNamara 💍 1887/1141	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2811	Elizabeth McNamara, mother	25 November 1887	Mr. W. Wyatt
332	28 November 1887	Thomas John Johnson Ruth Voke Astridge	Thomas John Johnston Ruth Voke Astridge 💍 1887/1915	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanical Engineer	32 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Fountain, Molesworth Street	87/2635		28 November 1887	Rev. W. H. West
333	29 November 1887	Henry James Mead Edmonds Phoebe Agnes Leckie	Henry James Mead Edmonds Phoebe Agnes Lechner 💍 1887/1117	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	31 26	Petone Petone	years 1 year	House of Mr. Grenelle, Petone	87/2787		29 November 1887	Rev. W. Kirk
334	29 November 1887	Charles Lulham Style Margaret Gigger	Charles Lulham Styles Margaret Gigger 💍 1887/1142	Bachelor Spinster	Wool carver	19 17	Wellington Petone	years years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2812	Hannah Style, mother; Joseph Gigger, father	29 November 1887	W. T. Wyatt
335	30 November 1887	George Giles Agnes Mackay	George Giles Agnes Mackay 💍 1887/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	32 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Giles, Small Diamond Street	87/2842		30 November 1887	Rev. C. Penney
336	2 December 1887	Frank Tonks Isabella Louisa Shennen	Frank Tonks Isabella Louisa Shennen 💍 1887/1195	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	20 22	Wellington Wellington	1 month years	House of Mr. Tonks, Webb Street	87/2844	Enoch Tonks, father	2 December 1887	Rev. C. Penney
337	7 December 1887	Charles Anderson Annie Jane Pickard	Charles Anderson Annie Jane Pickard 💍 1887/1180	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Wellington Wellington	years 18 months	House of Mr. Pickard, Evelyn Place	87/2851	Israel Pickard, father	7 December 1887	Rev. L. M. Isitt
338	10 December 1887	Mathew Henry Biggs Emily Susan Mansell	Mathew Henry Biggs Emily Susan Maunsell 💍 1887/1196	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	25 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Biggs, Hopper Street	87/2845		10 December 1887	Rev. C. Penney
339	12 December 1887	John Fairley Fennick Eva Ellen Gundy	John Fairley Fenwick Eva Ellen Cundy 💍 1887/1143	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Registrars office Wellington	87/2813		12 December 1887	W. T. Wyatt

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).