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 054

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1887

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

16 February 1887

Michael Richard Green
Ellen Driscoll

Michael Rohan
Ellen Driscoll
💍 1887/2404

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Ponsonby
Ponsonby

1 year
Personally

the church of St. Patrick's

87/84

16 February 1887

Rev. J. Macfie, Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	16 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Richard Green	Ellen Driscoll
BDM Match (79%)	Michael Rohan	Ellen Driscoll
	💍 1887/2404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	1 year	Personally
Marriage Place	the church of St. Patrick's
Folio	87/84
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Macfie, Presbyterian

16 February 1887

Morgan Hyps
Ann Sharp

Morgan Rhys
Ann Sharp
💍 1887/2429

Bachelor
Widow

Freeman

45
47

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

5 years
30 years

St. Matthew's

87/112

16 February 1887

Rev. J. Macfie, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	16 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morgan Hyps	Ann Sharp
BDM Match (86%)	Morgan Rhys	Ann Sharp
	💍 1887/2429
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Freeman
Age	45	47
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	5 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's
Folio	87/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Macfie, Presbyterian

16 February 1887

Frederick William Bolton
Adeline Caroline Carter

Frederick William MacKune
Adeline Caroline Carter
💍 1887/1685

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

21
19

Howe Street
Newton

10 years
4 years

Church of England

87/3399

14 days notice

4 March 1887

Rev. J. Callaghan, Church of England

No	80
Date of Notice	16 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Bolton	Adeline Caroline Carter
BDM Match (88%)	Frederick William MacKune	Adeline Caroline Carter
	💍 1887/1685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Howe Street	Newton
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	87/3399
Consent	14 days notice
Date of Certificate	4 March 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Callaghan, Church of England

17 February 1887

Colin Edward Price
Susannah Jane Capper

Colin Adams
Susannah Jane Capper
💍 1887/2400

Widower
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

35
22

Wellesley Street
Ponsonby

1 month
1 month

Registrar's Office

87/59

17 February 1887

Rev. Owen Lord, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	17 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Edward Price	Susannah Jane Capper
BDM Match (72%)	Colin Adams	Susannah Jane Capper
	💍 1887/2400
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Wellesley Street	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	87/59
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. Owen Lord, Registrar

19 February 1887

Hippolitan Courson
Isabella Romwell

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

31
23

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
2 years

St. John's Church

87/966

19 February 1887

Rev. J. Skill, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	19 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hippolitan Courson	Isabella Romwell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	87/966
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Skill, Church of England

19 February 1887

William Dunkinson
Sarah Little

William Dunkin
Sarah Little
💍 1887/2461

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

34
36

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
14 days

St. Matthew's Church

87/1144

19 February 1887

Rev. T. Sibbs, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	19 February 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dunkinson	Sarah Little
BDM Match (91%)	William Dunkin	Sarah Little
	💍 1887/2461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	87/1144
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Sibbs, Church of England

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 1903. 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).