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 1191

District of Quarter ending Registrar L. H. Smith

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

17 December 1887

Randolph Bolton
Agnes Leith

Randolph Rolton
Agnes Leith
💍 1887/1018

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Servant

19 years
16 years

Pollen St
Waio Karaka

19 years
16 years

Dwelling house of George Leith

87/2685

Henry Bolton, father of Minor

14 December 1887

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	17 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randolph Bolton	Agnes Leith
BDM Match (97%)	Randolph Rolton	Agnes Leith
	💍 1887/1018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Servant
Age	19 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Waio Karaka
Length of Residence	19 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of George Leith
Folio	87/2685
Consent	Henry Bolton, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	14 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

17 December 1887

Theobald Darling Conway
Mary Jane Pearl

Theobald Darling Conway
Mary Jane Pearce
💍 1887/1006

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

28 years
17 years

Pollen St
Bella St

2 years
14 years

St. Francis Church

87/2666

Bridget Pearse, mother of Minor

14 December 1887

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	17 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theobald Darling Conway	Mary Jane Pearl
BDM Match (94%)	Theobald Darling Conway	Mary Jane Pearce
	💍 1887/1006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	28 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Pollen St	Bella St
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church
Folio	87/2666
Consent	Bridget Pearse, mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	14 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

19 December 1887

William John Rowe
Harriet Martha Ripley

William John Rowe
Harriet Martha Ripley
💍 1887/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22 years
19 years

Karaka Creek
Karaka Creek

12 years
3 years

Wesleyan Church, Thames

87/2676

George Ripley, father of Minor

19 December 1887

Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan

No	49
Date of Notice	19 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Rowe	Harriet Martha Ripley
	💍 1887/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka Creek	Karaka Creek
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Thames
Folio	87/2676
Consent	George Ripley, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	19 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan

20 December 1887

William Dunstan
Janet McIntyre

William Dunstan
Janet McIntyre
💍 1887/1007

Bachelor
Spinster

Foundry Moulder
None

23 years
19 years

Coromandel
Parawai

3 days
14 years

Dwelling house of Allan McIntyre

87/2675

Allan McIntyre, father of Minor

20 December 1887

Rev. J. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	20 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dunstan	Janet McIntyre
	💍 1887/1007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foundry Moulder	None
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Coromandel	Parawai
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Allan McIntyre
Folio	87/2675
Consent	Allan McIntyre, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	20 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Lyon, Primitive Methodist

21 December 1887

William John Deeble
Harriet Louisa Nicholas

William John Deeble
Harriet Louisa Nicholas
💍 1887/1009

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
None

21 years
19 years

Rolleston St
Rolleston St

20 years
9 years

Dwelling house of Colin Nicholas

87/2677

Colin Nicholas, father of Minor

21 December 1887

Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan

No	51
Date of Notice	21 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Deeble	Harriet Louisa Nicholas
	💍 1887/1009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	None
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Rolleston St	Rolleston St
Length of Residence	20 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Colin Nicholas
Folio	87/2677
Consent	Colin Nicholas, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	21 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Best, Wesleyan

23 December 1887

Charles Gerrighty
Lily Campbell

Charles Gerrighty
Lily Campbell
💍 1887/1019

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
None

27 years
21 years

Upper Albert St
Upper Albert St

9 years
11 years

St. George's Church, Thames

87/2686

23 December 1887

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	23 December 1887
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gerrighty	Lily Campbell
	💍 1887/1019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	None
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Upper Albert St	Upper Albert St
Length of Residence	9 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	87/2686
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1887
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

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 1903. 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).