Intentions to Marry, 1888

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840400, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, May 14 2025

Page 511

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1888

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
14	4 April 1888	Frederick George Adams Margaret May Young	Frederick George Adams Margaret May Young 💍 1888/1202	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	37 26	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 4 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/1133		4 April 1888	G.W. Woon, Registrar
15	11 April 1888	Arthur William George Fitchett Mary Jane Robinson	Arthur William George Fitchett Mary Jane Robinson 💍 1888/1197 Henry William Trevarthen Mary Ann Robinson 💍 1888/1091	Bachelor Spinster	Coachbuilder	28 26	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 18 months	In the residence of Mr Arthur Woolley, Wanganui	88/1128		11 April 1888	W.F. Wattkin, Wesleyan
16	16 April 1888	James Dalton Margaret Thurston	James Dalton Margaret Thurston 💍 1888/1204	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 23	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/1134		16 April 1888	G.W. Woon, Registrar
17	16 April 1888	John Smith Fanny Woolford	John Smith Fanny Woolford 💍 1888/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Wanganui Brunswick Line	3 days 12 years	In the residence of Mr A. Woolford, Brunswick Line	88/1124		16 April 1888	P.L. Cameron, Church of England
18	16 April 1888	David Gibson Margaret Paterson	David Gibson Margaret Paterson 💍 1888/1215	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 27	Wanganui Brunswick	3 days 4 years	In the residence of Mr Blaid, Brunswick	88/1122		16 April 1888	Alexander Thomson, Presbyterian
19	18 April 1888	John David Jenkins Mary O'Sullivan	John David Jenkins Mary O'Sullivan 💍 1888/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 24	Wanganui Wanganui	20 years 7 years	In the residence of Mr Michael Soley, Wanganui	88/1132		18 April 1888	Chas H. Turk, Roman Catholic
20	26 April 1888	Ernest Samuel Barr Anihira Reina		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	22 24	Putiki Putiki	12 years 6 months	In the Church of England at Putiki	88/1126		26 April 1888	A.O. Williams, Church of England
21	30 April 1888	Henry Goodland Mayo Margaret Reid	Henry Goodland Mayo Margaret Reid 💍 1888/1205	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	25 31	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/1135		30 April 1888	G.W. Woon, Registrar
22	1 May 1888	Charles Henry Hinkley Mary Marcia Jane Boyle	Charles Henry Hinkley Mary Marcia Jane Coyle 💍 1888/1206	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 23	Wanganui Wanganui	8 days 2 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/1136		1 May 1888	G.W. Woon, Registrar
23	8 May 1888	George Roots Martha Elizabeth Waller	George Roots Martha Elizabeth Waller 💍 1888/1207	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 17	Wanganui Wanganui	8 days 8 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/1137	T. Waller, Father	8 May 1888	G.W. Woon, Registrar
24	8 May 1888	August Tho Reichardt Emilia Bertha Hubner	August Otto Reichardt Emilie Bertha Hubner 💍 1888/1196	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	33 16	Springvale Springvale	1 month 7 years	In the residence of Mr D. Hubner, Springvale	88/1138	D. Hubner, Father	8 May 1888	G.C.W. Meyer, Lutheran
25	22 May 1888	Frederick John Bealing Jane Walters	Frederick John Bealing Martha Jane Walters 💍 1888/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	39 24	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 2 years	In the Presbyterian Church, Wanganui	88/1130		22 May 1888	D. Gordon, Presbyterian
26	28 May 1888	John Barnett Lockett Ellen Maud Clarke	John Barnett Lockett Ellen Maud Clarke 💍 1888/1194	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 19	No. 2 Line No. 2 Line	4 months 4 months	In the Church of England, Matarawa	88/1139	T.H. Clarke, Father	28 May 1888	P.L. Cameron, Church of England

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).