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 1248

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
316	11 November 1887	Augustine Webb Martha Barker		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Marks Church	87/2847		11 November 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
317	12 November 1887	James Knight Ellen Rawlinson Eady	James Knight Ellen Rowlinson Easby 💍 1887/1116	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	3 days 4 years	House of Mr. James Knight, Lower Hutt	87/2786		12 November 1887	Rev. D. F. Murray
318	12 November 1887	Charles Leach Johanna Ann Woods	Charles Leach Johanna Ann Woods 💍 1887/1138	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	30 35	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 2 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	87/2809		12 November 1887	W. T. Wyatt
319	12 November 1887	Francis Henry Walker Mary Elizabeth Carter	Francis Henry Walker Mary Elizabeth Carter 💍 1887/1169 Frank Rawden Carter Alice Elizabeth Carter 💍 1887/1243	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	20 19	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	87/2839	Henry Walker, Father of Groom; Sarah Carter, Mother of Bride	12 November 1887	Rev. Joshua Jones
320	14 November 1887	John Keely Bridget Darcy	John Kiely Bridget Darcey 💍 1887/1887	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	34 36	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3583		14 November 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
321	14 November 1887	Albert Edward Perry Laura Susannah Emery	Albert Edward Perry Louisa Susannah Emeny 💍 1887/1190	Bachelor Spinster	Boot finisher	22 21	Wellington Wellington	18 months 4 years	Wesleyan Church, Cumberland Place	87/2843	Charles Penney, Father of Bride	14 November 1887	Rev. Luke Isitt
322	16 November 1887	Patrick Coleman Catherine Nolan	Patrick Coleman Catherine Nolan 💍 1887/1888	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	2 months 8 months	St. Mary of the Angels	87/3584		16 November 1887	Rev. P. Kerrigan
323	18 November 1887	Bramely Des Forges Isabella Temple Percy	Bransley Des Forges Isabella Semple Percy 💍 1887/1171	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 1 year	House of Mr. Padmore, Ingestre Street	87/2841		18 November 1887	Rev. C. Penney
324	19 November 1887	Cornelius Murphy Ellen Fitzgerald	Cornelius Murphy Ellen Fitzgerald 💍 1887/1184	Bachelor Widow	Express Driver	35 35	Wellington Kaiwarra	4 years 4 years	St. Marys Cathedral	87/2857		19 November 1887	Rev. J. McNamara
325	19 November 1887	John Ede Sayler Margaret Carter	John Ede Taylor Margaret Carter 💍 1887/1940	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 20	Wellington Wellington	1 month 6 months	House of The Rev. W. H. West	87/3659	Sarah Carter, Mother	19 November 1887	Rev. W. H. West
326	24 November 1887	James Freak Gillingham Amelia Jane Harris	James Freak Gillingham Amelia Jane Tidd 💍 1887/1185	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	32 27	Wellington Wellington	9 days 5 weeks	House of the Rev. C. S. Ogg	87/2858		24 November 1887	Rev. C. S. Ogg
327	24 November 1887	Campbell Colquhoun Ella commonly called Nellie Geneva Berry	Campbell Colquhoun Nellie Geneva Berry 💍 1887/1113	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	House of Mr. Morison, Cambridge Terrace	87/2784		24 November 1887	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).