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 1363

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
375	17 December 1887	William John Randall Anna Lean Belinta Waldron	William John Randall Anna Lean Belinda Waldron 💍 1887/1417	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 23	Fendallton Fendallton	7 years 7 years	Registrar's Office	87/3080		17 December 1887	Registrar of Marriages
376	19 December 1887	Richard George Bowers Hannah Davis	Richard George Bowen Hannah Davis 💍 1887/1377	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 18	St. Albans Sydenham	3 years 1 year	Sheds House of Rev P.R. Munro	87/3126	William Davis, Father	19 December 1887	Rev P.R. Munro, Presbyterian
377	17 December 1887	Joseph Stanley Rhoda Fairey	Joseph Stanley Rosina Fairey 💍 1887/1393	Bachelor Spinster	Articled Surveyor Machinist	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 24 years	Coiles King Street	87/3055		17 December 1887	Rev P.R. Munro, Presbyterian
378	19 December 1887	Thomas John Burnet Sarah Erskine	Thomas John Burnet Sarah Erskine 💍 1887/1424	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 23	Christchurch Heathcote	25 years 23 years	House of Mrs Erskine	87/3086	Mrs Erskine, Mother	19 December 1887	Rev H. Irvine, Presbyterian
379	19 December 1887	James Black Rose Kate Biggs	James Black Rosa Kate Biggs 💍 1887/1439	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Halswell Halswell	3 days 14 years	St. Michael's Church	87/3092	Julia Hamilton, Mother	19 December 1887	Rev C. Coates, Church of England
380	19 December 1887	Arthur George Boardman Pleasa Clark	Arthur George Boardman Eliza Clark 💍 1887/1418	Bachelor Widow	Barman	27 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 8 years	Registrar's Office	87/3081		19 December 1887	Registrar of Marriages
381	19 December 1887	Frederick Bull Elizabeth Annie Brabner	Frederick Smith Elizabeth Annie Shotton 💍 1887/3372 Frederick Cole Elizabeth Montague 💍 1887/1128 Frederick William OKey Elizabeth Annie Perry 💍 1887/3058	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-builder	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	House of Hugh Brabner, 110 East Belt	87/3127	Hugh Brabner, Father	19 December 1887	Rev J. Plenslie, Presbyterian
382	20 December 1887	Alfred John Brockett Janet Lapsley	Alfred John Brockett Janet Lapsley McFarrow 💍 1887/1350	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker Machinist	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	Church of Christ, Durham St.	87/3099		20 December 1887	Rev R.H. Taylor, Church of Christ
383	20 December 1887	William George Bryant Lucy Reid Williams	William George Smith Emily Williams 💍 1887/2451	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	St. John's Church	87/3122		20 December 1887	Rev C.J. Merton, Church of England
384	20 December 1887	Hugh Wilson Annie Jane Goss	Hugh Wilson Annie Jane Goss 💍 1887/1390	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 24	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 24 years	House of James Goss, Salisbury Street	87/3052	James Goss, Father	20 December 1887	Rev R. Drawing, Presbyterian

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).