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 563

District of Hastings 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
111	16 April 1888	Andrew Ludwig Anderson Catherine Frances Barton	Andrew Luvig William Andersen Catharine Frances Barton 💍 1888/1489	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	38 24	Hastings Hastings	4 weeks 5 years	Church of England	88/1294	16 April 1888	Rev. W. H. Hill, Episcopalean Minister
112	21 April 1888	James Dickson Eliza Luke Williams	James Dickson Eliza Williams 💍 1888/1309	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nurse	39 39	Maraekakaho Maraekakaho	5 years 3 years	Church of England	88/1292	21 April 1888	Rev. Hubert Maclean, Episcopalean Minister
113	30 April 1888	Thomas Pringle Jane Fitzsimmons	Thomas Pringle Jane Fitz-Simmons 💍 1888/1307	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager Domestic	34 38	Hastings Hastings	3 days 4 days	Registrars Office	88/1290	30 April 1888	William O McLeod, Registrar
114	30 April 1888	James Vereoe Prudence Taylor	James Vercoe Prudence Taylor 💍 1888/1344	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman Domestic	29 26	Hastings Hastings	3 days 10 years	Methodist Church Napier	88/1319	30 April 1888	Rev. John Edwards, Wesleyan Minister
115	3 May 1888	George Thomas Sherwood Annie Elizabeth Jackson	George Thomas Sherwood Anne Elizabeth Jackson 💍 1888/3465	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	29 21	Hastings Clive	14 years 14 years	Church of England	88/3546	3 May 1888	Rev. Hubert Maclean, Episcopalean Minister
116	5 May 1888	George Jennings Petherick Emma Jane Parker	George Jennings Petherick Emma Jane Parker 💍 1888/1310	Widower Widow	Labourer Domestic	36 36	Hastings Hastings	1 year 4 years	Church of England	88/1293	5 May 1888	Rev. Hubert Maclean, Episcopalean Minister
117	2 June 1888	Timothy O'Connor Bridget O'Shea	Timothy O'Connor Bridget O'Shea 💍 1888/3598	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	26 26	Hastings Hastings	5 years 4 years	R. Catholic Church	88/1298	2 June 1888	Rev. Le manant des Chesnais, Roman Catholic Minister
118	2 June 1888	John Thomas Clarke Elizabeth Cheer	John Thomas Clark Elizabeth Chez 💍 1888/1494 John Thomas Hough Elizabeth Drewett 💍 1888/199 John Thomas White Elizabeth McIndoe 💍 1889/712	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	24 19	Hastings Hastings	6 days 14 years	Church of England	88/1295	2 June 1888	Revd. Hubert Maclean, Episcopalean Minister
119	18 June 1888	John O'Connor Ellen Fleming	John O'Connor Ellen Fleming 💍 1888/3379 John O'Rourke Mary Fleming 💍 1888/1166	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	34 25	Hastings Hastings	4 days 4 months	R. Catholic Church	88/1904	18 June 1888	Revd. Le manant des Chesnais, Roman Catholic Minister
120	27 June 1888	Arthur Stacey Amelia Chase	Arthur Stacey Amelia Chase 💍 1888/1308	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	22 21	Hastings Hastings	2 months 4 days	Registrars Office	88/1291	27 June 1888	William O McLeod, Registrar

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).