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 614

District of 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
180	4 June 1887	Thomas Barnett Margaret Tobeck	Thomas Barnett Margaret Tobeck 💍 1887/3324	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 19	Tai Tapu Tai Tapu	20 years 5 years	Wesleyan Chapel	87/1403	Father	11 June 1887	Rev J. H. Simmonds
181	11 June 1887	Arthur Gale Ellen Nock	Arthur Gale Ellen Nock 💍 1887/3362	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Book-binder	22 25	Sydenham Sydenham	4 years 23 years	House of George Bowden, Devon St	87/1442		13 June 1887	Rev G. Bond
182	15 June 1887	Henry Albert Birchfield Martha Dowdall	Henry Albert Birchfield Martha Dowdall 💍 1887/3341	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	34 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 24 years	St Andrews Manse	87/421		15 June 1887	Rev J. McIntosh
183	16 June 1887	Phillip Plummer Mary Ann Fletcher	Phillip Steinmer Mary Ann Fletcher 💍 1887/1774	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 20	Riccarton Riccarton	7 years 14 years	Wesleyan Chapel	87/3490	Henry Fletcher, Father	16 June 1887	Rev J. Berry
184	17 June 1887	Ernest Samuel Batters Mary Kirby	Ernest Samuel Baker Margaret Mary Kirley 💍 1887/3500	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Servant	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 4 years	Registrar's Office	87/1379	J. M. Anderson	17 June 1887	Registrar Manager
185	17 June 1887	Richard Robbins Jane Bourrou	Richard Dobbin Jane Bowron 💍 1887/1855	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church	87/3574		17 June 1887	Rev D. McGuinaty
186	18 June 1887	George Ward Mary Drayton	George Bond Mary Gleeson 💍 1887/2034 George McHardy Mary Potter 💍 1887/2858 George Duncan Mary Taylor 💍 1887/736	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	24 19	Christchurch West Melton	24 years 19 years	Wesleyan Chapel, West Melton	87/1404	Albert C. Truscott, Father	18 June 1887	Rev H. Simmonds
187	23 June 1887	Charles William Price Essie Millar	Charles William Price Elsie Millar 💍 1887/3363	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 3 years	House of Rev R. Ervine, Papanni Road	87/1443		23 June 1887	Rev R. Ervine

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).