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 499

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
145	23 May 1887	Albert Stace Lucy Cornford	Albert Stace Lucy Cornford 💍 1887/3163	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Spinster	29 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	87/1192		23 May 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
146	26 May 1887	Walter Bradley Fanny Maria Rushton	Walter Crossley Fanny Maria Rushton 💍 1887/3164	Bachelor Spinster	Mill-hand Spinster	22 21	Petone Petone	1 year 2 years	House of Mr. Rushton, Petone	87/1175		26 May 1887	Rev. D. J. Murray
147	28 May 1887	Robert Pettis Elizabeth Rawcliffe	Robert Pettit Elizabeth Rawcliffe 💍 1887/68	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Spinster	28 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 5 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1128		28 May 1887	W. T. Wyatt
148	30 May 1887	Arthur George Arnold Louise Caroline Gumm	Arthur George Arnold Louise Caroline Emma Pheney 💍 1887/3154	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	28 24	Karori Karori	3 days years	St. Paul's Cathedral	87/1183		30 May 1887	Rev. John Still
149	31 May 1887	Maurice Cohen Jennie Nathan	Maurice Cohan Jennie Nathan 💍 1887/3128	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Spinster	25 22	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	House of Mr. J. S. Nathan, Hawkestone Street	87/1105		31 May 1887	Rev. H. van Staveren
150	31 May 1887	Thomas Cotman Alma Greer	Thomas Colman Alma Greer 💍 1887/69	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Spinster	32 21	Karori Johnsonville	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1129		31 May 1887	W. T. Wyatt
151	2 June 1887	John Lindsay Scott Jane Lavinia Steam	John Lindsay Scott Jane Lavinia Steane 💍 1887/70	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Spinster	38 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1130		2 June 1887	W. T. Wyatt
152	2 June 1887	George Ness Susannah McCarthy	George Ness Susannah McCarthy 💍 1887/71	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman Spinster	24 22	Wellington Wellington	1 month 2 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1131		2 June 1887	W. T. Wyatt
153	3 June 1887	Henry Scott Elizabeth Millar	Henry Scott Elizabeth McLachlan 💍 1887/48	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman Spinster	33 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1132		3 June 1887	W. T. Wyatt
154	4 June 1887	Thomas James Wall Amy Louisa Edwards	Thomas James Nott Amy Louisa Edwards 💍 1887/2321	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Spinster	26 16	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	87/1133	Joseph Edwards, Father	4 June 1887	W. T. Wyatt
155	6 June 1887	Thomas Lancaster Elizabeth Bowler	Thomas Lancaster Elizabeth Bowler 💍 1887/3129	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner Spinster	26 24	Karori Makara	years years	St. Matthias Church, Makara	87/1106		6 June 1887	Rev. A. Dasent
156	6 June 1887	Charles Thomas Perry Eliza Gardner	Charles Thomas Perry Eliza Gardner 💍 1887/3131	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	30 17	Upper Hutt Pahaulanui	years years	Episcopalian Church, Johnsonville	87/1158	William Gardner, Father	6 June 1887	Rev. J. Fancourt

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).