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 495

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
97	6 April 1887	Thomas Wagg Ann Alice Keep	Thomas Wagg Ann Alice Keep 💍 1887/3106	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	26 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years years	St. Peters Church	87/1107	6 April 1887	Archdeacon Stock
98	6 April 1887	Arthur Motley Lavinia Victoria Langley	Arthur Motley Lavinia Victoria Langley 💍 1887/3108	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 24	Wellington Wellington	years 5 months	St. Peters Church	87/1109	6 April 1887	Rev. John Still
99	6 April 1887	Richard Edward Vine Mary Ann Allen	Richard Edward Vince Mary Ann Allen 💍 1887/3117	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 28	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1117	6 April 1887	W. D. Wyatt
100	7 April 1887	William Marshall Laura Annie Dunn	William Marshall Laura Annie Turner 💍 1887/3107 William Marshall Sophia Christensen 💍 1888/67 William Marshall Edith Osmond Hinton 💍 1887/2772	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	37 27	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Peters Church	87/1108	7 April 1887	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
101	7 April 1887	Frederick Hugh Dever Annie Maria Williams	Frederick Hugh Diver Annie Maria Williams 💍 1887/3147	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	7 months 1 month	House of Mr. Clark Haining Street	87/1152	7 April 1887	Rev. L. M. Isitt
102	7 April 1887	James Griffith Gregory Mary Anne Frost	James Griffith Gregory Mary Anne Frost 💍 1887/3119	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrars office Wellington	87/1119	7 April 1887	W. D. Wyatt
103	9 April 1887	Joseph Alpha Duckett Mabel Theresa Henty	Joseph Alfred Dudson Mabel Theresa Huett 💍 1887/3150	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Marys Cathedral	87/1155	9 April 1887	Rev. J. McNamara
104	12 April 1887	Thomas Alexander Jones Blanche Myra Sawyer	Thomas Alexander Jones Blanche Myra Sawyer 💍 1887/3158	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 29	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Marks Church	87/1187	12 April 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
105	12 April 1887	Montague Rosenthal Elizabeth Clare Campbell	Montague Rosenthal Elizabeth Clare Campbell 💍 1887/3132	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	30 21	Wellington Wellington	6 months	St. Marys Church of the Angels	87/1159	12 April 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
106	12 April 1887	William James Richardson Lily Eleanor Burridge	William James Richardson Lily Eleanor Briscoe 💍 1887/1728	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	28 24	Wellington Wellington	3 months 6 months	House of Mr. Whiteley Ghuznee Street	87/3443	12 April 1887	Rev. David Fulton
107	12 April 1887	Charles Henry Albert Henderson Charlotte Ann Hill	Charles Henry Albert Henderson Charlotte Ann Hill 💍 1887/1737	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. F. Hill Wallace Street	87/3452	12 April 1887	Rev. W. S. Potter
108	13 April 1887	John Mason Wells Ellen Clapham	John Mason Wells Ellen Clapham 💍 1887/3175	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Pauls Cathedral	87/1180	13 April 1887	Rev. John Still

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).