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 533

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
161	11 June 1888	John Douglas Kelly Mary Ann Emily Taylor	John Douglas Kelly Mary Ann Emily Taylor 💍 1888/1271	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1245	John Edward Kelly, Father of bride, Eliza Helen Taylor, mother	11 June 1888	W. T. Wyatt
162	11 June 1888	Andrew Reid Agnes McNair	Andrew Reid Agnes McNair 💍 1888/3603	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years 3 months	House of Mrs McNair York Street	88/1215		11 June 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
163	11 June 1888	James Mason Margaret Healey	James Mason Margaret Healy 💍 1888/1252	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/1190		11 June 1888	Rev. P. Kerrigan
164	14 June 1888	William Wood Sarah Woodham	William Wood Sarah Woodham 💍 1888/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years 3 months	Registrars office Wellington	88/1246		14 June 1888	W. T. Wyatt
165	14 June 1888	John Henry Nancarrow Margaret Helen Cruickshank	John Henry Nancarrow Margaret Milne Cruickshank 💍 1888/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	30 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Cruickshank College Street	88/1213		14 June 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
166	15 June 1888	William Thomas Johnson Ada Jane Bullman	William Thomas Johnson Ada Jane Bulliman 💍 1888/154	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Wainuiomata Wellington	years years	House of Mr W. Wakeham Wainuiomata	88/2201		15 June 1888	Rev. D. J. Murray
167	16 June 1888	John William Wood Eliza Johnson	John William Wood Eliza Johnson 💍 1888/153	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Wainuiomata Wainuiomata	years years	House of Mr W. Wakeham Wainuiomata	88/2200		16 June 1888	Rev. D. J. Murray
168	19 June 1888	George Thomas White Ellen Amelia Kennedy	George Thomas White Ellen Amelia Kennedy 💍 1888/1264	Widower Spinster	Jeweller	41 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 14 days	St. Marys Cathedral	88/1197		19 June 1888	Rev. J. McNamara
169	21 June 1888	James Scott Louisa Augusta Nees	James Scott Louisa Augusta Nees 💍 1888/1321	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	29 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Nees Cuba Street	88/1176		21 June 1888	Rev. Wm Lee
170	21 June 1888	Robert Gilkes Sarah Bellamy	Robert Gilkes Sarah Bellamy 💍 1888/1287	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 22	Wellington Wellington	3 months years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1247		21 June 1888	W. T. Wyatt
171	21 June 1888	George Jacob Mercer Maria McNair	George Jacob Mercer Maria McNair 💍 1888/1265	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	32 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs McNair York Street	88/1214		21 June 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
172	22 June 1888	Edward Bull Annie Wheeler	Edward Bull Annie Wheeler 💍 1888/1320	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Duff Vivian Street	88/1175		22 June 1888	Rev. Wm Lee

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).