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 995

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
279	12 September 1887	William Hill Marian Lydia Marshall	William Hill Marian Lydia Marshall 💍 1887/597	Bachelor Spinster	Coal dealer Servant	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 9 years	St. Michael's Church	87/2226	Robert Marshall, father	12 September 1887	Rev. C. Coates
280	12 September 1887	John Fry Milne Rachel Sarah Phipps	John Fry Milne Rachel Sarah Phipps 💍 1887/643	Bachelor Spinster	Soda water maker	25 19	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 18 years	Registrar's Office	87/2294	Sheriah Phipps, mother, in colony giving consent	27 September 1887	J M Parkinson
281	12 September 1887	William Fraser Helen McPherson	William Fraser Helen McPherson 💍 1887/1842	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch City	3 years 16 years	St. Paul's Church, Cashel Street	87/3554	Helen McPherson, mother	12 September 1887	Rev. J. Hindle
282	14 September 1887	Andrew Pinwile Gertrude Inez Lanauze	Andrew Pinwill Gertrude Inez Lanaugh 💍 1887/1831	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	53 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 26 years	St. John's Church	87/3550		14 September 1887	Rev. H. C. M. Watson
283	14 September 1887	Galbraith Johnston Norther Kerr		Bachelor Spinster	Clothier	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch City	4 days 5 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	87/2232		14 September 1887	Rev. J. D. Lewis
284	14 September 1887	Arthur Martin Mary Elizabeth Allan	John Martin Mary Elizabeth Allan 💍 1887/580	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch, Street	3 years 5 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street	87/2233		14 September 1887	Rev. J. D. Lewis
285	17 September 1887	John Wagamo Hogland		Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	34 25	Lincoln Christchurch	3 years 12 years	Registrar's Office	87/2293		17 September 1887	J M Parkinson
286	17 September 1887	William Chapman Annie Bate	William Chapman Annie Bate 💍 1887/1369	Widower Spinster	Farmer	33 34	Paparoa Paparoa	20 years 6 weeks	Woolston Church	87/3119		17 September 1887	Rev. C. J. Merton
287	20 September 1887	George Brent Annie Savage	George Burt Annie Savage 💍 1887/574	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	42 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Michael's Church	87/2227		20 September 1887	Rev. R. Coates
288	20 September 1887	John Henry Granthan Eliza Louisa Reid	John Henry Grantham Eliza Louisa Roil 💍 1887/1976	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	29 25	House of Mr. Barker, North Street Christchurch, St. Albans	7 years 25 years	Baptist Church	87/2246		20 September 1887	Rev. C. Ballashin

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).