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 1246

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
292	18 October 1887	William Barrett Emma Leslie	William Barrett Emma Leslie 💍 1887/1163	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Leslie, Austin Street	87/2834	Alexander Leslie, Father	18 October 1887	Rev. Jas. Paterson
293	18 October 1887	Howard Beth Sarah Jane Somerville	Howard Betts Sarah Jane Somerville 💍 1887/1164	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	42 22	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	House of Mr. Duncan, Ghuznee Street	87/2835		18 October 1887	Rev. Jas. Paterson
294	19 October 1887	Wah Chang Clara Secker	Wah Chong Clara Secker 💍 1887/1153	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer	37 29	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2800		19 October 1887	W. T. Wyatt
295	20 October 1887	James Whelan Mary Ann Lawson	James Whelan Mary Ann Lawson 💍 1887/1131	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2802		20 October 1887	W. T. Wyatt
296	21 October 1887	Henry Herbert Hunt Jenny Brielle	Henry Herbert Hunt Jenny Boielle 💍 1887/1132	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	26 27	Wellington Wellington	4 months 1 week	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2803		21 October 1887	W. T. Wyatt
297	22 October 1887	John Gooch Emily Chapman	John Gooch Emily Chapman 💍 1887/1177	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 25	Lower Hutt Wellington	years 1 year	House of Mrs. Crombie, Queen Street	87/2824		22 October 1887	Rev. L. M. Isitt
298	22 October 1887	Robert Ewin Yancey Johanna Mary Tray	Robert Ewir Vaney Johanna Mary Troy 💍 1887/1183	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	St. Marys Cathedral	87/2856		22 October 1887	Rev. J. McNamara
299	24 October 1887	Archibald Sinclair Hope Mason	Archibald Sinclair Hope Mason 💍 1887/1148	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 22	Wellington Lower Hutt	years years	Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt	87/2795		24 October 1887	Rev. D. T. Roger
300	27 October 1887	James David Wigglesworth Isabel Water Sutherland Gunn	James Dacie Wigglesworth Isabelle Waters Sutherland Gunn 💍 1887/627 James Wrigglesworth Isabel Watey Sutherland Gunn 💍 1887/1166	Widower Spinster	Artist	57 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Johns Church, Willis Street	87/2836		27 October 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
301	27 October 1887	James Wilson Maria Bird	James Wilson Maria Bird 💍 1887/1133	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2804		27 October 1887	W. T. Wyatt
302	28 October 1887	Edward Vincent John Copper Susannah Bradell	Edward Vincent John Coppen Susannah Biddell 💍 1887/1156	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 28	Castle Point Wellington	7 months years	St. Pauls Cathedral, Wellington	87/2827		28 October 1887	Rev. John Still
303	28 October 1887	Frederick Jordan Elizabeth Vincent	Frederick Jordan Elizabeth Vincent 💍 1887/1176	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer	34 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Satter, Victoria Place	87/2823		28 October 1887	Rev. Wm. Lee

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).