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 1360

District of Christchurch 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
345	15 November 1887	Alexander Turner Flora Moore	Alexander Turner Flora Moore 💍 1887/1365	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	33 30	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	Wesleyan Chapel	87/3115		15 November 1887	Rev W. J. Will
346	18 November 1887	James Proving Laura Carpenter	James Pronings Phillips Laura Carpenter 💍 1887/1410 James Morton Susanna Carpenter 💍 1887/1836	Widower Spinster	Labourer Servant	37 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 13 years	Registrars Office	87/3073		18 November 1887	Registrar Man
347	19 November 1887	George Thomas Sophia Parish	George Thomas Ellis Sophia Parish 💍 1887/1411	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Templeton Templeton	17 years 12 years	Registrars Office	87/3074		19 November 1887	Registrar Man
348	21 November 1887	Charles Demichael Clara Kimber	Charles Demicheli Clara Kimber 💍 1887/1355	Widower Spinster	Summer Servant	39 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 8 years	Roman Catholic Church	87/3030		21 November 1887	Rev. S. C. O'Halloran
349	21 November 1887	Henry Savage Charlotte Clare	Henry Savage Charlotte Clare 💍 1887/1412	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 9 years	Registrars Office	87/3075		21 November 1887	Registrar Man
350	21 November 1887	George Ferguson Helen Seton Dickson	George Ferguson Helen Seton Dickson 💍 1887/1392	Widower Spinster	Millwright Houston	52 41	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 18 months	House of James Masters, Woolston	87/3054		21 November 1887	Rev P. R. Munro
351	22 November 1887	Conrad Haar Elizabeth Coughlan	Conrad Haar Mary Ann Elizabeth Coughlan 💍 1887/1348	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	29 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	87/3029		22 November 1887	Rev S. C. O'Halloran
352	22 November 1887	Thomas Henry Hollow Jeanine Hoskins	Thomas Henry Hollow Jeannie Hoskins 💍 1887/1366	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller Governess	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 5 years	House of Rev W. J. Will, East Belt	87/3116		22 November 1887	Rev W. J. Will
353	22 November 1887	David Hawkins Kate Cleveland	David Hawkins Kate Cleveland 💍 1887/1947	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Goldhurst Christchurch	21 years 1 year	Church of England	87/365	no person	6 December 1887	Rev C. Bowes
354	26 November 1887	William Marshall Mary McDowall	William Marshall McDowall Cecily May McDowall 💍 1887/1464	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	23 17	Riccarton Riccarton	5 years 17 years	House of J. E. McDowall	87/3143	Father J. E. McDowall	26 November 1887	Rev W. West, Wesleyan Congregation

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).