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 531

District of Wellington 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
137	16 May 1888	Norris Bell Ellen Fell	Norris Bell Ellen Fell 💍 1888/1337	Widower Widow	Drill Instructor	47 43	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	88/1170	16 May 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
138	17 May 1888	Frank Rutherford Congus Isabella Fulton	Frank Rutherford Angus Isabella Fulton 💍 1888/1324	Widower Spinster	Spinner	32 24	Petone Petone	11 months 18 months	House of Bride, Petone	88/1179	17 May 1888	Rev. C. S. Ogg
139	19 May 1888	Hugh Sutherland Valentine Wilhelmina Stranghan	Hugh Sutherland Valentine Wilhelmina Margraf Luick 💍 1888/1325	Widower Spinster	Squatter	40 24	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks annually most of the S.S. Tongariro from London	St. Andrew's Church	88/1180	19 May 1888	Rev. C. S. Ogg
140	21 May 1888	Alexander McMillan Harriet Victoria Peters	Alexander Mennie Smith Harriet Victoria Peter 💍 1888/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	40 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	88/1236	21 May 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt
141	21 May 1888	Henry Chappell Isabelle Wilkie	Henry Chappell Isabelle Wilkie 💍 1888/1246	Widower Spinster	Saddler	34 24	Wellington Wellington	years 6 weeks Lower Hutt	Wesleyan Church	88/1202	21 May 1888	Rev. Wm. Kirk
142	21 May 1888	Francis Gustavus Butt Hilda Hall Odling	Francis Gustavies Butt Hilda Hall Odling 💍 1888/1328	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street	88/1183	21 May 1888	Rev. W. S. Potter
143	22 May 1888	Percy George Talbot Mary Fogerty	Percy George Talbot Mary Fogerty 💍 1888/1253	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Guard	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years 5 months	St. Peter's Church	88/1208	22 May 1888	Venble Archdeacon Stock
144	22 May 1888	Michael Cox Ellen Chambers	Michael Cox Ellen Chambers 💍 1888/1241	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	32 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/1189	22 May 1888	Rev. P. Kerrigan
145	25 May 1888	James Ogden Agnes Maggie Keyes	James Ogden Agnes Maggie Keyes 💍 1888/1473	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	31 23	Wellington Wellington	8 months 10 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	88/1237	25 May 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt
146	25 May 1888	Joseph Henry Reginald Heath Emily Valentine	Joseph Henry Reginald Heath Emily Valentine 💍 1888/1338	Bachelor Spinster	Gunner	33 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	88/1171	25 May 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
147	26 May 1888	Edward Andrew Borthwick Annie Marie Webster	Edward Andrew Bouthorne Annie Marie Webster 💍 1888/3602	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	88/1210	26 May 1888	Venble Archdeacon Stock
148	28 May 1888	William Henry MacQuarters Edith Elliott	William Henry MacQuarters Edith Elliott 💍 1888/1474	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 23	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	Registrar's Office, Wellington	88/1238	28 May 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt

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).