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 1259

District of Masterton 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
29	10 October 1887	Ernest Alfred Ede Susannah Maria Burrell	Ernest Alfred Ede Susannah Maria Burrell 💍 1887/1210	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolteacher	26 22	Masterton Masterton	4 days 6 Months	Presbyterian Church Masterton	87/2873		15 October 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian Minister
30	17 October 1887	Emil Hunging Johanson Caroline Ludvigsen	Emil Huiging Johanson Caroline Ludvigsen 💍 1887/1207	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	30 17	Masterton Masterton	4 years 12 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	87/2870	Hans Johan Ludvigsen, Father	19 October 1887	John Bagge Registrar
31	18 October 1887	Rasmussen Metta Katrine Cling		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 20	Masterton Masterton	5 years 12 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	87/2871	Hans Johan Ludvigsen, Father	18 October 1887	John Bagge Registrar
32	21 November 1887	Charles McKergan Mary McKenna	Charles McKeegan Mary McKenna 💍 1887/1204	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 23	Masterton Masterton	4 days 8 weeks	Roman Catholic Chapel Masterton	87/2877		21 November 1887	Rev Patrick Triacy Roman Catholic Priest
33	12 December 1887	Thomas John Berry Alice Hayes	Thomas John Berry Alice Hayes 💍 1887/1211	Bachelor Spinster	Shearer	21 24	Masterton Masterton	2 years 7 years	House of Mr George Hayes	87/2874		12 December 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian Minister
34	12 December 1887	William Lawrence Lucy Anne Farman	William Lawrence Lucy Anne Carman 💍 1887/1212	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Masterton Manakau	7 years 7 years	House of Mr Daniel Farman Manakau	87/2875		12 December 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian Minister
35	19 December 1887	Hans Mathias Petersen Rosina Severn		Widower Spinster	Labourer	38 18	Masterton Masterton	6 weeks 3 days	House of Mr Hans Mathias Petersen		No one in Colony to give Consent (Certificate delayed 14 days)		Rev David Fulton Presbyterian Minister
36	20 December 1887	Robert Halor Rhodes Clara Meredith	Robert Heaton Rhodes Clara Meredith 💍 1887/1209	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	32 22	Masterton Masterton	3 days 2 Months	Church of England Masterton	87/2872		20 December 1887	Rev W G Paige Church of England Minister
37	29 December 1887	Donald McDonald Fanny Elizabeth Duckett	Donald McDonald Fanny Elizabeth Duckett 💍 1887/1203	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright	27 17	Miki Miki Miki Miki	5 days 1 Month	House of Mr John Duckett Miki Miki	87/2876	John Duckett, Father	29 December 1887	Rev David Fulton Presbyterian Minister

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).