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 987

District of [illegible] Quarter ending [illegible] Registrar J. M. Macleod

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
205	7 July 1887	Jesse Hollobon Letetia Blair	Jesse Holobon Letitia Blair 💍 1887/587	Bachelor Spinster	Hood Carver Servant	27 17	Sydenham Opawa	16 Years 17 Years	St. Mark's Opawa	87/2239	Father	7 July 1887	Rev. S. I. Cholmondeley, Church of England
206	7 July 1887	Joseph Martin Elira Seddings	Joseph Martin Eliza Giddings 💍 1887/590	Widower Spinster	Ironmonger	46 42	Linwood Sydenham	46 Years 42 Years	In the house of Mr. J. Brown, Sandiford Street	87/2242		7 July 1887	Rev. C. Dallaston, Baptist
207	7 July 1887	Murdoch McLeod Abigail Callanders	Murdoch McLeod Abigail Gillanders 💍 1887/599	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	37 22	Christchurch Halkett Street	4 days 3 Years	Royal Hotel	87/2253		7 July 1887	Rev. J. McIntosh, Presbyterian
208	8 July 1887	Melling Charles Cooper Ada Jane Maynell	Matthew Charles Cooper Ada Jane Meynell 💍 1887/583	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	29 23	Linwood Sydenham	6 weeks 7 Years	House of Mr. Maynell, Carlisle Street	87/2236		8 July 1887	Rev. J. Orchard, Bible Christian
209	11 July 1887	George James Annie Montgomery	George James Annie Montgomery 💍 1887/612	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	Registrar's Office	87/2268		11 July 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Macleod
210	11 July 1887	William Thomas Page Sarah Mary Ann Grant	William Thomas Page Sarah Mary Ann Grant 💍 1887/620	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	37 28	Springston Springston	19 Years 6 weeks	Registrar's Office	87/2269		11 July 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Macleod
211	11 July 1887	Elijah Round Mary Ann Munro	Elijah Round Mary Ann Munro 💍 1887/1834 James Rowe Mary Ann Munro 💍 1887/2706	Bachelor Spinster	Bottler Tailoress	21 21	Sydenham Sydenham	15 Years 3 Years	St. Paul's Church	87/3553		11 July 1887	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
212	11 July 1887	Edwin Smith Mary McKay	Edwin Smith Mary McKay 💍 1887/1832	Widower Spinster	Collier Servant	34 31	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 1 week	House of Mrs. Meyer, South Belt	87/3551		11 July 1887	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).