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 1355

District of Christchurch 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
305	5 October 1887	Henry William Hooper Jane Jackson McCormack	Henry William Hooper Jane Dicksen McCormack 💍 1887/1379	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Teacher	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 years	St. Johns Church	87/3128		6 October 1887	Rev. H.M. Watson
306	6 October 1887	Frederick Day Emily Row		Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 12 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Durham Street	87/3047		7 October 1887	Rev. J.J. Lewis
307	7 October 1887	Charles Catternall Elizabeth Rose Charlick	Charles Cattermole Elizabeth Rose Charlick 💍 1887/1357	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Tailoress	29 29	St. Albans St. Albans	4 years 4 years	St. Albans Church	87/3032		8 October 1887	Rev. W.R. Gillard
308	8 October 1887	Frank Stace Anna Thereza Awalia Hanger	Frank Stace Anna Theresa Amelia Spanjer 💍 1887/1400	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 4 years	Registrars Office	87/3061		10 October 1887	J.M. Fullerson
309	10 October 1887	Joseph Benjamin Jackson Mary Ann Elizabeth Dougherty	Joseph Benjamin Jackson Mary Ann Elizabeth Songhurst 💍 1887/1420	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Machinist	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 6 months	Registrars Office	87/3064		11 October 1887	J.M. Fullerson
310	11 October 1887	Robert King Elizabeth Perkins	Robert King Elizabeth Perkins 💍 1887/1364	Bachelor Spinster	Soapmaker	26 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 5 years	Wesleyan Church, Heathcote Valley	87/3114		11 October 1887	Rev. W.J. Williams
311	11 October 1887	William Holwell Alice Wills	William Holwell Alice Wills 💍 1887/1343	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 years	House of Richard Wills	87/3042		12 October 1887	Rev. J.H. Simmonds
312	12 October 1887	Frank Wright Leonard Amy Carr	Frank Wright Leonora Libeau 💍 1887/1401	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	21 27	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	Registrars Office	87/3062	Joseph Libeau, Father	12 October 1887	J.M. Fullerson
313	12 October 1887	John Firmerly Rebecca Mountain		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 18	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 3 months	Roman Catholic Church	87/3026	Libeau, Father	12 October 1887	Rev. L. McGuinaty
314	13 October 1887	Bethel Prince Manhire Annie Hore	Bethel Prince Manhire Annie Hore 💍 1887/1367	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 7 years	Bible Christian Chapel	87/3117	Sampson Hore, Father	13 October 1887	Rev. J. Orchard

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).