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 837

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1888 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

301

10 July 1888

Edward Aye Day
Mary Ann Theresa Dealy

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Freeman's Bay
Manfere

22 years
3 1/2 years

Dwelling, Manfere

88/1967

10 July 1888

Rev. F. Adams, Presbyterian

No	301
Date of Notice	10 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Aye Day	Mary Ann Theresa Dealy
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Freeman's Bay	Manfere
Length of Residence	22 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling, Manfere
Folio	88/1967
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Adams, Presbyterian

302

11 July 1888

Albert Fickling
Sund

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
29

Dargaville
Parnell

6 years
25 years

St. Benedict's Church

88/1964

11 July 1888

Rev. C. Downey, R. Catholic

No	302
Date of Notice	11 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Fickling	Sund
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	29
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Parnell
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	88/1964
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Downey, R. Catholic

303

11 July 1888

Frederick Woollams
Ellen Jane Jamieson

Frederick Woollams
Ellen Jane Ismena Stephenson
💍 1888/1965

Widower
Spinster

Gentleman

62
33

Coromandel
Coromandel

26 years
2 1/2 years

All Saints Church

88/1978

11 July 1888

Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

No	303
Date of Notice	11 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Woollams	Ellen Jane Jamieson
BDM Match (79%)	Frederick Woollams	Ellen Jane Ismena Stephenson
	💍 1888/1965
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	62	33
Dwelling Place	Coromandel	Coromandel
Length of Residence	26 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	88/1978
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

304

11 July 1888

Frederick Thomas Crabb
Alice Louisa March

Frederick Thomas Crabb
Alice Louisa March
💍 1888/1976

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman

21
20

North Shore
Newton

21 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

88/2013

William March, father

11 July 1888

J. Owen Lord, Registrar

No	304
Date of Notice	11 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Crabb	Alice Louisa March
	💍 1888/1976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	North Shore	Newton
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	88/2013
Consent	William March, father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Registrar

305

12 July 1888

Arthur Alonzo Tozer
Annie Bailey

Arthur Alonzo Holroyd
Annie Bailey
💍 1888/2637

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

21
19

Collingwood St
Parnell

18 years
19 years

Dwelling, Bailey, Parnell

88/2675

Daily, mother

12 July 1888

Rev. T. Spurgeon, Baptist

No	305
Date of Notice	12 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Alonzo Tozer	Annie Bailey
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Alonzo Holroyd	Annie Bailey
	💍 1888/2637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Collingwood St	Parnell
Length of Residence	18 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling, Bailey, Parnell
Folio	88/2675
Consent	Daily, mother
Date of Certificate	12 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Spurgeon, Baptist

306

12 July 1888

Francis Henry Coates
Alice Maud Mary Therba

Francis Henry Coate
Alice Maud Mary Theobald
💍 1888/3477

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

27
26

Richfield
Isle of Wight

9 months
26 years

St. Matthews Church

88/3552

12 July 1888

Rev. W. Tebbs, Ch. of England

No	306
Date of Notice	12 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Coates	Alice Maud Mary Therba
BDM Match (91%)	Francis Henry Coate	Alice Maud Mary Theobald
	💍 1888/3477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Richfield	Isle of Wight
Length of Residence	9 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	88/3552
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tebbs, Ch. of England

307

12 July 1888

William Galloway
Fanny Starley

William Galloway Jerram
Fanny Harley
💍 1888/1966

William Greathead
Fanny Fuller
💍 1888/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

29
20

Napier
Ponsonby

1 1/2 years
10 1/2 years

All Saints Church

88/1979

12 July 1888

Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

No	307
Date of Notice	12 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Galloway	Fanny Starley
BDM Match (77%)	William Galloway Jerram	Fanny Harley
	💍 1888/1966
BDM Match (60%)	William Greathead	Fanny Fuller
	💍 1888/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	10 1/2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	88/1979
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).