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 1377

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1887 Registrar J. Ward

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
523	4 October 1887	George Bishop Eliza Soutter Donaldson	George Bishop Eliza Coulter Donaldson 💍 1887/1468	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	21 17	Flemington Wheatstone	9 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	87/3147	John Donaldson, Father	7 October 1887	Revd. B. Chastagnon
524	10 October 1887	William Ralph Pickford May Hayes	William Ralph Pickford May Hayes 💍 1887/1448	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Housekeeper	22 22	Trevorton Trevorton	13 years 6 months	Private dwelling house of Charles Crothers at Hampstead	87/3151		10 October 1887	Revd. A. M. Beattie
525	12 October 1887	Matthew John Mullen Jane Walker	Matthew John Mullon Jane Walker 💍 1887/1450	Widower Spinster	Composition Manufacturer Housekeeper	50 41	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 2 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	87/3153		12 October 1887	Revd. E. A. Scott
526	13 October 1887	Alfred Edward Remer Julia Mary Isabella Berg	Alfred Edward Remer Julia Mary Isabella Berg 💍 1887/1445	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable	30 18	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton	87/3148	John Adam Berg, Father	13 October 1887	Revd. B. Chastagnon
527	14 November 1887	Henry Thomas Lawrence Margaret Johnston	Henry Thomas Lawrence Margaret Johnston 💍 1887/1449 Thomas Lawrence Mary Johnston 💍 1887/635	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Domestic Servant	29 29	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 1 year	Private dwelling house of Andrew Going at Ashburton	87/3152		14 November 1887	Revd. A. M. Beattie
528	3 December 1887	James Storrier Elizabeth Emily Davis	James Storrier Elizabeth Emily Davis 💍 1887/1446	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 18	Ealing Tinwald	4 years 2 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	87/3149	Nathaniel Davis, Father	3 December 1887	J. Ward, Registrar
529	10 December 1887	Albert Edward Kemp Annie Eugenia Meadows	Albert Edward Kemp Annie Eugenia Meadows 💍 1887/1447	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	87/3150		10 December 1887	J. Ward, Registrar
530	19 December 1887	Robert William Hart Helen Grace Phury	Robert William Hart Helen Grace Shary 💍 1887/1451	Bachelor Spinster	Mercantile Clerk	25 22	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 12 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	87/3154		19 December 1887	Revd. E. A. Scott
531	24 December 1887	William Millson Emily Frances Cox	William Willcox Emily Frances Cox 💍 1888/773	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Dressmaker	26 23	Allenton Ashburton	6 years 4 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	88/592		24 December 1887	Revd. E. A. Scott

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 1899. 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).