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 1250

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
340	12 December 1887	Alexander Watt Ann Redmayne	Alexander Watt Ann Redmayne 💍 1888/795	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 23	Wellington Wellington	5 days 5 days	St. Johns Church, Willis Street			12 December 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
341	12 December 1887	James Warren Tilson Ellen Percy	James Warren Williams Ellen Percy 💍 1887/1199	Widower Widow	Labourer	39 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Marks Church	87/2848		12 December 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
342	13 December 1887	William George Butler Catherine McRae	William George Butler Catherine McRea 💍 1887/1119	Bachelor Widow	Bricklayer	23 32	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Ballinger, Tarakina Road	87/2789		13 December 1887	Rev. P. N. Hunter
343	15 December 1887	Thomas Chamberlain Annie Seacole	Thomas Chamberlain Susie Sedcole 💍 1887/1144	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 2 months	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2814		15 December 1887	W. T. Wyatt
344	15 December 1887	Arthur Geary Sarah Bennett	Arthur Gadsby Sarah Bennett 💍 1887/1118	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 22	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Bennett, Lower Hutt	87/2788		15 December 1887	Rev. G. J. Murray
345	15 December 1887	Henry Jervis Martha Prince	Henry Jervis Martha Prince 💍 1887/1145	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Makara Wellington	11 months 11 months	Registrars office, Wellington	87/2815		15 December 1887	W. T. Wyatt
346	16 December 1887	William Hart Maggie Matilda Donald	William Hart Maggie Matilda Donald 💍 1887/1181	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	22 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Wesleyean Church, Taranaki Street	87/2852		16 December 1887	Rev. L. M. Isitt
347	19 December 1887	Joseph Hicks Jean Irvine Ross Hogarth	Joseph Hicks Jean Irvine Ross Hogarth 💍 1887/1168	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Hogarth, Ewart Grove	87/2838		19 December 1887	Rev. J. Paterson
348	19 December 1887	Cecil Luscombe Hanley Clara Susanna Barlow	Cecil Luscombe Hawley Clara Susannah Barlow 💍 1887/1159	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	29 20	Wellington Wellington	2 months 3 weeks	St. Pauls Cathedral	87/2830	Susanna Jane Barlow, Mother of Bride	19 December 1887	Rev. John Still
349	20 December 1887	Frank Walter Maddock Jane Liviston	Frank Walter Maddox Jane Liverton 💍 1887/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	27 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Marks Church	87/2850		20 December 1887	Rev. R. Coffey
350	20 December 1887	William Reid Kennell Helena Ada Sweeney	William Reid Lennie Helena Ada Twomey 💍 1888/29	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	87/257		20 December 1887	Rev. W. H. Driver
351	20 December 1887	Charles Nicola Pramoro Louise Annie Green	Charles Harold Podmore Louisa Anna Green 💍 1887/1182	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Revd. L. M. Isitt, Willis Street	87/2853		20 December 1887	Rev. L. M. Isitt

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).