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 497

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
121	23 April 1887	James Fraser Annie Elizabeth Luck	James Fraser Annie Elizabeth Duck 💍 1887/3142 James Fraser Jane Currie 💍 1887/2189	Widower Spinster	Baker	31 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. J. Durnbell, Tinakori Road	87/1170		23 April 1887	Rev. J. Durnbell
122	23 April 1887	George Paget Church Cecilia Mary Cook	George Paget Church Cecilia Mary Cook 💍 1887/47	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 day	Registrars office	87/1123		23 April 1887	W. J. Wyatt
123	30 April 1887	Thomas McKelvey Annie Howe	Thomas McKelvy Annie Stowe 💍 1887/58	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 25	Makara Wellington	years 6 months	Registrars office	87/1124		30 April 1887	W. J. Wyatt
124	2 May 1887	Benjamin Robert Harrison Ada Ruth Warren	Benjamin Robert Harrison Ada Ruth Warren 💍 1887/3160	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	87/1189		2 May 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
125	5 May 1887	Bartholomew Steggles Mathews Jane Armstrong Crathern	Bartholomew Stagpoole Jane Armstrong Matthews 💍 1887/3137	Widower Widow	A. G. Ford	55 45	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/1164		5 May 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
126	5 May 1887	Henry Ryland Stapleton Alexandrina Mary Fraser	Henry Ryland Stapleton Alexandrina Marjory Fraser 💍 1887/1729	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Capt. Fraser, McFarland Street	87/3444		5 May 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
127	5 May 1887	James Gorney Eleanor Emma Vince	James Gosney Eleanor Emma Vince 💍 1887/1745	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Vince, Drummond Street	87/3453	Richard Vince, Father	5 May 1887	Rev. W. S. Potter
128	6 May 1887	James Henry Harper Ida Smith	James Henry Harper Ida Smith 💍 1887/3177	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	87/1182		6 May 1887	Rev. John Still
129	7 May 1887	William Couchman Catherine Cecilia Cooper	William Couchman Catherine Cecilia Cooper 💍 1887/86	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	22 20	Wellington Greymouth	years years	Episcopalian Church, Greymouth	87/1329	Consent to be given	7 May 1887	Rev. J. H. Maclean
130	7 May 1887	Edward Jameson Elton Margaret Craig Burns	Edward James Jon Elton Mary Craig Burns 💍 1887/1733	Bachelor Spinster	Goldsmith	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Burns, Normandy Street	87/3449		7 May 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
131	9 May 1887	Samuel Inder Aitken Anne Elizabeth Richmond	Edmond Tudor Atkinson Anne Elizabeth Richmond 💍 1887/3308	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	28 28	Wellington Nelson	4 months 4 months	Bishopdale Church, Nelson	87/1305		9 May 1887	The Right Revd. The Bishop of Nelson
132	9 May 1887	Richard Henry Symons Mary Jolley Hayward	Richard Henry Smith Mary Jolley Hayward 💍 1887/64	Bachelor Spinster	Hatter	21 20	Wellington Hayward, Hutt	years years	Lower Hutt	87/1148	Thomas Hayward, Father	9 May 1887	Rev. Joshua Jones

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).