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 126

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
37	9 February 1887	James Mitchell Elizabeth McKay	James Mitchell Elizabeth McKay 💍 1887/2618	Widower Spinster	Settler	75 40	Wellington Sydney Street	years years	House of Mr. McKay	87/327	9 February 1887	Rev. John Muir
38	11 February 1887	John Burnham Agnes Bradley	John Varnham Agnes Bradey 💍 1887/2620	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 23	Wellington Pahautanui	years years	House of Mr. Bradley, Pahautanui	87/329	10 February 1887	Rev. J. Harcourt
39	11 February 1887	William Whetley Helen Elizabeth Nicholson	William Whitley Helen Elizabeth Nicholson 💍 1887/2603 William Graham Jackson Marion Elizabeth Nicholson 💍 1888/748	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	23 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrar's office	87/310	10 February 1887	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
40	11 February 1887	Christopher Francis Richmond Amy Lisa Gibson	Christopher Francis Richmond Amy Lisa Gibson 💍 1887/2648	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister & Solicitor	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Cathedral	87/338	11 February 1887	Rev. John Still
41	14 February 1887	John Eades Susan Ann Ebden	John Eades Susan Ann Ebden 💍 1887/2605	Widower Spinster	Plaster Layer	35 23	Western Hutt Wellington	3 months years	Registrar's office	87/312	14 February 1887	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
42	17 February 1887	Robert Stewart Lilla Levine Pitcher	Robert Stewart Lilla Seniore Pilcher 💍 1887/2570 Robert Stewart Alison Pirrie 💍 1887/3576	Bachelor Spinster	Stationmaster	27 22	Wellington Petone	3 days years	House of Mr. Pitcher, Petone	87/278	17 February 1887	Rev. W. Kirk
43	18 February 1887	Frederick Cleaver Webb Maria Annita White	Frederick Cleaver Webbe Marie Annita White 💍 1887/2613	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years 3 months	Registrar's office	87/313	18 February 1887	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
44	18 February 1887	Jacob McEldowney Roberta Newton McDowall	Jacob McEldowney Roberta Hewitson McDowall 💍 1887/2585	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 27	Wellington Molesworth Street	years years	House of Mr. Mc Dowall, Molesworth Street	87/369	18 February 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott
45	18 February 1887	Lewis Bunch Howe Mary Jane Blake	David Barrett Howe Mary Jane Blake 💍 1887/2606	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	Petone Petone	9 months years	St. Paul's Cathedral	87/290	18 February 1887	Rev. John Still
46	21 February 1887	Frederick William Backler Ada Adcock	Frederick William Cutler Ada Adcock 💍 1887/1688	Bachelor Spinster	Galvaniser	27 25	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	St. Mark's Church	87/340	21 February 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
47	22 February 1887	James Gardner Elizabeth Boulton	James Gardner Elizabeth Boulton 💍 1887/2619	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	32 26	Pahautanui Pahautanui	years years	House of Rev. J. Muir	87/328	22 February 1887	Rev. John Muir
48	23 February 1887	Charles Bonner Matilda Thompson	Charles Bonner Matilda Thompson 💍 1887/103	Bachelor Spinster	Member of N. Z. Artillery	37 21	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 14 days	Registrar's office	87/314	23 February 1887	Mr. T. W. Wyatt

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).