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 1357

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
315	13 October 1887	Edward John Smith Dinah Paull	Edward John Smith Emma Parker 💍 1887/1409	Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser Servant	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 20 years	Registry Office	87/3063	Mother	13 October 1887	J M Paulkerson, Registrar of Marriages
316	14 October 1887	Claude Mainwaring Standing Emily Christchurch		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Church	87/3095		14 October 1887	Rev. L. Malingsly
317	15 October 1887	William Henry Purgelley Catherine Moor	William George Butler Catherine McRea 💍 1887/1119 William Hugh McRandle Catherine Rowan 💍 1887/1804	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 22 years	Roman Catholic Church	87/3025		15 October 1887	Rev. L. Malingsly
318	17 October 1887	John Frederick William Grierson Ada Sophia Cooke	John Frederick William Grierson Ella Sophia Cooke 💍 1887/1354	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 23	St. Albans Christchurch	26 years 10 years	Church	87/3103		17 October 1887	Ven. Archdeacon Lingard
319	18 October 1887	Thomas Edward Biddle Sarah Robbins	Thomas Edward Biddle Louie Sarah Robbins 💍 1887/1436	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Painter	24 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 24 years	Church	87/3089		18 October 1887	Rev. H. J. Purchas
320	18 October 1887	Thomas Leslie Ada Rose Houghton	Thomas Line Ada Rose Houghton 💍 1887/1359	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Machinist	26 20	Christchurch House of Rev. J. Mc Intosh	26 years 17 years	Church	87/3034	William Houghton, Father	18 October 1887	Rev. J. Mc Intosh
321	19 October 1887	Amandus Francis Parker Emma Brookman	Amandus Francis Parker Eleanor Emma Brookman 💍 1887/1356	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Servant	27 23	Christchurch House of Amandus Brookman	27 years 12 years	Church	87/3031		19 October 1887	Rev. A. C. Lewry
322	19 October 1887	Frederick James Carr Ellen Watson	Frederick James Carr Ellen Watson 💍 1887/1407	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Christchurch Riccarton	25 years 3 days	Wesleyan Office	87/3048		19 October 1887	Rev. J. J. Lewis
323	21 October 1887	John Wick Sarah Edith	John Vick Sarah Edith Selindia Hunt 💍 1887/1426	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registry Office	87/3065		21 October 1887	J M Paulkerson, Registrar of Marriages
324	22 October 1887	Christopher Hampton Bedelia Howard	Christopher Hampton Bedelia Howard 💍 1887/1329	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	34 36	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	87/3027		22 October 1887	Rev. L. Malingsly

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).