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 1361

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
355	28 November 1887	Walter George Fisher Mary Jeefe	Walter George Fisher Mary Telfe 💍 1887/1413	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Servant	29 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 months	Registrars Office	87/3076		28 November 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Walker
356	28 November 1887	George Bullock Elina Wood	George Barkentin Bullock Eliza Wood 💍 1887/1443	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping Agent Accountant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 years	Church	87/3096		29 November 1887	Rev. Chaffers-Weed Church of England
357	2 December 1887	Ernest Alfred England Clara Ellis	Ernest Alfred England Clara Ellis 💍 1887/1408	Bachelor Spinster		29 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 13 years	House of Mrs Ellis	87/3049		2 December 1887	Rev. J. J. Lewis Wesleyan
358	3 December 1887	William Robert Hall Edith Thomas	William Robert Hull Edith Thomas 💍 1887/1414	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Fitter	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 8 years	Registrars Office	87/3077		3 December 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Walker
359	3 December 1887	Samuel Christie Louisa Goodman		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 25	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 25 years	Methodist Chapel	87/3035		3 December 1887	Rev. P. W. Jones Methodist
360	5 December 1887	Edward John Stillwell Annie Watt	Edward John Stillwell Annie Watt 💍 1887/1389	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 26	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 5 years	House of Mrs Allison Lake	87/3051		5 December 1887	Rev. H. Irwin Presbyterian
361	6 December 1887	Stewart Betty Mary Ann Haferty	Stewart Betty Mary Ann Hagerty 💍 1887/1415	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	41 31	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	87/3078		6 December 1887	Registrar of Marriages J. Walker
362	6 December 1887	William Cameron Ellen Lewis	William Cameron Ellen Lewis 💍 1887/1388	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 22 years	House of Thomas Allen	87/3050		6 December 1887	Rev. H. Irwin Presbyterian
363	6 December 1887	Clement Cartwright Laura Ann Goodman	Clement Cartwright Laura Ann Goodman 💍 1887/1383	Bachelor Spinster	Dressmaker	41 18	Sydenham Sydenham	8 years 10 years	St Saviours Church	87/3109	George Goodman, father	6 December 1887	Rev. H. B. Cocks Church of England
364	7 December 1887	Joseph Henry Kenwood Carter Mary Amelia Craigie	Joseph Henry Kermode Mary Amelia Craigie 💍 1887/1342	Bachelor Spinster		29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 25 years	House of Rev. J. McIntosh	87/3041		7 December 1887	Rev. J. McIntosh Presbyterian

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).