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 991

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
239	2 August 1887	Julius Rouison Harriet Mary Woolf	Julius Romison Miriam Harriet Woolf 💍 1887/618	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 8 years	Synagogue	87/2251		2 August 1887	J. C. Devien (Hebrew)
240	3 August 1887	Fred Muschamp Bessie Wilhelmina Dawkins	Fred Muschamp Bessie Wilhelmina Dawkins 💍 1887/625	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Barmaid	22 22	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 7 years	Registrar's Office	87/2283		3 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. Macleeson
241	3 August 1887	George Cheffings Kate Payne	George Cheffings Kate Payne 💍 1887/623	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	87/2281		3 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. Macleeson
242	4 August 1887	Charles Edward Caldwell Jane Alexander Caldwell	Charles McIntosh Jane Alexander Caldwell 💍 1887/624	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Machinist	22 20	St Albans Christchurch	6 years 8 years	Registrar's Office	87/2282	Alexander Caldwell, father	4 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. Macleeson
243	9 August 1887	Ernest Denton Tanner Sarah Mary Lance	Ernest Denton Tanner Sarah Mary Lance 💍 1887/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	27 20	Christchurch Riccarton	1 week 1 week	Riccarton Church	87/3663	Legal Guardian	9 August 1887	Rev. C. Bowen, Church of England
244	11 August 1887	Alexander Cowick Elizabeth Hogg	Alexander Cowie Elizabeth Hogg 💍 1887/601	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	44 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St Andrews Manse	87/2255		11 August 1887	Rev. McIntosh, Presbyterian
245	11 August 1887	Joseph Henry Faulkner Emma McKay	Joseph Henry Faulkner Emma McKay 💍 1887/605	Bachelor Spinster	Granddriver Cook	23 22	New Brighton Christchurch	6 months 2 weeks	Church of St Lukes	87/2259		11 August 1887	Archdeacon Lingard, Church of England
246	12 August 1887	Caunte Roschell Margery Simlett	Canute Roschell Margery Gimblett 💍 1887/626	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	24 31	Christchurch Christchurch	5 weeks 3 years	Registrar's Office	87/2284		12 August 1887	Registrar of Marriages, J. Macleeson
247	15 August 1887	George Coeds Fanny Wheatley	George Cooks Fanny Wheatley 💍 1887/584	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 19	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 1 week	St Michael's Church	87/2219	John Wheatley, father	15 August 1887	Rev. J. Hancle, Church of England
248	15 August 1887	Maurice Foley Julia Agnes Fenton	Maurice Foley Julia Fenton 💍 1887/565	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer Servant	32 18	New Brighton New Brighton	3 months 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	87/2217	Office Ensign	29 August 1887	Rev. D. M. Quirity, Roman Catholic

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).