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 1283

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1887 Registrar Sydney I. Sage

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 October 1887

Daniel Guerin
Ellen O'Connell

Daniel Guerin
Ellen O Connell
💍 1887/1228

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
25

Napier
Napier

5 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Chapel at Napier

87/2900

29 October 1887

Rev Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest Napier

No	69
Date of Notice	29 October 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Guerin	Ellen O'Connell
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel Guerin	Ellen O Connell
	💍 1887/1228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Napier
Folio	87/2900
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest Napier

29 October 1887

John James Crocker
Harriet Miller

John James Crocker
Harriet Miller
💍 1887/1245

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
19

Napier
Napier

2 years
10 years

St John's Church, Napier

87/2918

John Miller, Father

29 October 1887

Rev De Berdt Hovell, Church of England Napier

No	70
Date of Notice	29 October 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Crocker	Harriet Miller
	💍 1887/1245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Napier
Folio	87/2918
Consent	John Miller, Father
Date of Certificate	29 October 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev De Berdt Hovell, Church of England Napier

31 October 1887

Philip Owens
Bridget Kennedy

Philip Owens
Bridget Heartready
💍 1887/1879

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
25

Woodville
Napier

1 year
4 years

Roman Catholic Chapel Woodville

87/3598

31 October 1887

Rev Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest Napier

No	71
Date of Notice	31 October 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Owens	Bridget Kennedy
BDM Match (83%)	Philip Owens	Bridget Heartready
	💍 1887/1879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel Woodville
Folio	87/3598
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest Napier

2 November 1887

Killeam Barbe
Mary Catherine Fox

William Barber
Mary Catherine Fox
💍 1887/1252

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
20

Inangatarata
Napier

1 month
20 years

Residence of the Rev I.G. Paterson, Napier

87/2924

Kate Fox, Mother

2 November 1887

Rev I.G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister Napier

No	72
Date of Notice	2 November 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Killeam Barbe	Mary Catherine Fox
BDM Match (89%)	William Barber	Mary Catherine Fox
	💍 1887/1252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Inangatarata	Napier
Length of Residence	1 month	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev I.G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	87/2924
Consent	Kate Fox, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 November 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev I.G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister Napier

5 November 1887

Julius Andreas Burns
Cecelie Marie Nulsen

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

36
24

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

1 year Residence
14 months

Residence of the Rev I.G. Paterson, Napier

87/2925

5 November 1887

Rev I.G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister Napier

No	73
Date of Notice	5 November 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julius Andreas Burns	Cecelie Marie Nulsen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	1 year Residence	14 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev I.G. Paterson, Napier
Folio	87/2925
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev I.G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister Napier

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).