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 649

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
187	16 May 1888	Ernest John Bolton Mary Wollon		Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Servant	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 15 years	Wesleyan Chapel, East Belt	88/1525		16 May 1888	Rev. W. J. Williams
188	17 May 1888	Samuel Pointon Christina McLaren	Samuel Pointon Christina McLaren 💍 1888/1895	Bachelor Spinster	Warder	35 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 months	St. Andrews Manse	88/1907	Hugh McLaren, father	17 May 1888	Rev. G. Webster
189	17 May 1888	Blakeman Henry Storeman Hemmings Edith Clara Lambert	Blakeman Henry Hemmings Edith Clara Lambert 💍 1888/1570	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 22 years	House of James Lambert, St. Albans Lane	88/1515		17 May 1888	Rev. H. Staudage
190	18 May 1888	John Bligh Kate Williamson	John Bligh Kate Williamson 💍 1888/1535	Widower Spinster		45 25	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 10 years	Avonside Church	88/1501		18 May 1888	Rev. W. A. Pascoe
191	18 May 1888	William Henry Baker Pollitt Agnes Harper	William Henry Eskett Agnes Harper 💍 1888/1618	Bachelor Spinster	Currier Machinist	31 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 12 years	Registrar's Office	88/1568		18 May 1888	Registrar of Marriages
192	18 May 1888	John Henry Parkyn Mary Ann Marshall	John Henry Parkyn Mary Ann Marshall 💍 1888/1568	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	26 20	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 20 years	House of George Marshall, South Belt	88/1513	George Marshall, father	18 May 1888	Rev. J. Orchard
193	19 May 1888	Edward Round Simmons Elizabeth Simmons	Edward Rond Elizabeth Simmons 💍 1888/1564	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	21 19	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 9 years	Church of Good Shepherd, Phillipstown	88/1509	Isaac Simmons, father	19 May 1888	Rev. H. J. C. Gilbert
194	19 May 1888	William Horace Newcombe Fanny Town Elizabeth Ann Newcombe	William Horrell Down Elizabeth Ann Newcombe 💍 1888/1569	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Tailoress	34 20	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 8 years	Bible Christian Church, Addingtion	88/1514	Amos Newcombe, father	19 May 1888	Rev. J. Orchard
195	21 May 1888	Christopher Martin Frances Ashton	Christopher Martin Frances Alice Ashton 💍 1888/1542	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Tailoress	30 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 22 years	Wesleyan Church, Colombo Road	88/1484	Christopher Martin, father	21 May 1888	Rev. W. Iott
196	21 May 1888	Enoch George Burrow Margaret Jane Whitmore	Enoch George Burrow Margaret Jane Whitmore 💍 1888/1537	Bachelor Spinster	Woolclasser Servant	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 10 years	Avonside Church	88/1502		21 May 1888	Rev. W. A. Pascoe

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).