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 124

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
12	12 January 1887	James Greville Smith Jane Wilkie Watson	Reginald Palmer Greville Jane Wilkie Watson 💍 1887/2566	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	24 21	Wellington Lower Hutt	years 3 days	St Marks Church	87/244		12 January 1887	Rev R Coffey
13	13 January 1887	Rodolphe Richard Lawrence Edelia Rowan	Rudolphe Richard Laurent Delia Rowan 💍 1887/2655	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 26	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	9 months years	Roman Catholic Church	87/339		13 January 1887	Rev John Lane
14	14 January 1887	Nathaniel William Werry Mary Elizabeth Ready	Nathaniel William Werry Mary Elizabeth Reader 💍 1887/2626	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	40 39	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Pauls Cathedral	87/334	No relation in Colony	28 January 1887	Rev G. S. Ogg
15	14 January 1887	Edwin Swaffer Thornton Kate Alice Dobson	Edwin Swaffer Thornton Kate Alice Dolson 💍 1887/2639	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev G. S. Ogg	87/347		15 January 1887	W. I. Wyatt
16	14 January 1887	Martin Nelson Elizabeth McCracken	Martin Nelson Elizabeth McCracken 💍 1887/2595	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/303		19 January 1887	Rev J. G. Penway
17	15 January 1887	Edward Morris Jones Isabella Lett	Edward Morris Isabella Lett 💍 1887/2578	Bachelor Spinster	Undertaker	21 21	Pakuratahi Pakuratahi	years years	House of Mr Charles Lett, Pakuratahi	87/285		20 January 1887	W. I. Wyatt
18	19 January 1887	John McConaghty Margaret Hampden	John McConaghty Margaret Hampden 💍 1887/2597	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/305		20 January 1887	W. I. Wyatt
19	20 January 1887	Jesse Harlen Mary Ann Darnale	Jesse Harlen Mary Ann Darrall 💍 1887/2598	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	87/306	Elizabeth Darnale, mother	20 January 1887	W. I. Wyatt
20	20 January 1887	William William Steele Hannah Maria Martindale	Adam William Steele Harriet Maria Martindale 💍 1887/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	32 29	Wellington Wellington	3 days 7 years	St Pauls Cathedral	87/337		24 January 1887	Rev John Still
21	24 January 1887	Nathaniel Nathan Mary Maud Siddell	Nathaniel Nathan May Maud Seddells 💍 1887/1686	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	29 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	87/340		25 January 1887	Rev R. Coffey
22	25 January 1887	Daniel McLaughlin Catherine Malligan	Daniel McLaughlin Catherine Madigan 💍 1887/2623	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary of the Angels	87/332		25 January 1887	Rev P. Kerrigan
23	25 January 1887	Bernard Doherty Lizzie Whelan	Bernard Doherty Lizzie Whelan 💍 1887/2609	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 18	Wellington Wellington	7 months 12 years	St Mary's Cathedral	87/293	Keran Whelan, father	25 January 1887	Rev J. McNamara

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).