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 647

District of Christchurch 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
167	7 May 1888	Arthur Boole Edith Charlotte	Arthur Boole Edith Charlotte Margaret Johnston 💍 1888/1634	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Registrar's Office	88/1562		7 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages J M Maullerson
168	7 May 1888	John Bennett Wilson Margaret		Widower Widow	Labourer [illegible]	40 [illegible]	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 9 years	Registrar's Office	88/1563		7 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages J M Maullerson
169	7 May 1888	John Mullough Hannah Wilson		Bachelor Spinster	Seller Servant	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 9 years	House of Mr Jose	88/1463	Thomas Wilson, Father	7 May 1888	Rev J Hill, Presbyterian
170	7 May 1888	Harry Mercer Clara Kennington	Harry Mercer Clara Kennington 💍 1888/1552	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Dressmaker	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 22 years	House of John Kennington, Rangiora	88/1518		7 May 1888	Rev C Ballaston, Baptist
171	8 May 1888	Edward Spencer Barbara Bell		Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman [illegible]	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 1 year	St Michael's Church	88/1539		8 May 1888	Rev W Harper, Church of England
172	8 May 1888	James Kilbride Elizabeth Curran	James Kilbride Elizabeth Curran 💍 1888/1598	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Servant	31 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Catholic Church, St Mary's Terrace	88/1545	Michael Curran, Father	8 May 1888	Rev J Cherrier, Roman Catholic
173	8 May 1888	Samuel Curtis Elizabeth Ashley	Samuel Austin Elizabeth Ashley 💍 1888/1593	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 month	St Michael's Church	88/1540		8 May 1888	Rev W Harper, Church of England
174	9 May 1888	George Coburn Susan Webb	George Osbourne Susan Webb 💍 1888/1877	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 5 years	St John's Church, Woolston	88/1912		9 May 1888	Rev C Weston, Church of England
175	9 May 1888	Edwin Lovell Gaiz Violet Maud Florence Thomas	Edwin Lovell Grigg Violet Maude Florence Thomas 💍 1888/1882	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Servant	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 2 years	St John's Church	88/1917	Having authority to Consent	9 May 1888	Rev H C Watson, Church of England
176	11 May 1888	Job Smith Mary Ann Russell	Job Smith Mary Ann Russell 💍 1888/1638	Widower Widow	Engineer [illegible]	58 62	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 14 years	Registrar's Office	88/1566		11 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages J M Maullerson

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).