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 853

District of Drury Quarter ending 30 September 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
13/88	2 July 1888	John Paton Jane Murray	John Paton Jane Murray 💍 1888/2007	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	30 years 24 years	Otau Otau	12 years 22 years	House of A Murray Otau	88/2044		2 July 1888	Rev I Narrie Presbyterian Minister
14/88	2 July 1888	Robert Flanagan Fanny Clark McPherson	Robert Flanagan Fanny Clarke MacPherson 💍 1888/2008	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 years 23 years	Drury Drury	5 years 2 years	House of Mary McPherson Drury	88/2045		2 July 1888	Rev I Narrie Presbyterian Minister
15/88	2 July 1888	Robert Bilkey Annie Louisa Potter	Robert Bilkey Anna Louisa Potter 💍 1888/2068	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 years 27 years	Buckland Pukekohe	10 years 15 years	Anglican Church	88/2049		2 July 1888	Rev E McFarland Anglican Minister
16/88	7 July 1888	Robert John Leeming Benson Anna Maria Usher formerly Clements formerly Thorington Widow	Robert John Leeming Benson Annie Maria Usher 💍 1888/8	Bachelor Widow	Mill Hand Hotel Keeper	29 years 39 years	Papakura Papakura	4 years 3 years	House of Anna Maria Usher Papakura	88/2043		7 July 1888	Rev O R Newteet Anglican Minister
17/88	24 July 1888	John Hartland Annie Morgan	John Hartland Annie Morgan 💍 1888/2010	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 years 20 years	Pukekohe East Mangatawhiri	6 years 2 years	House of John Potter Mangatawhiri	88/2047	William Morgan father	24 July 1888	Rev J Law Wesleyan Minister
18/88	11 August 1888	Thomas Gilbert Jackson Jane Barclay	Thomas Gilbert Jackson Jane Barclay 💍 1888/2009	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 years 24 years	Maketu Maketu	5 days 5 years	House of Peter Barclay Maketu	88/2046		11 August 1888	Rev I Narrie Presbyterian Minister
19/88	17 September 1888	Frederick Hyde Elizabeth Jane Logan	Frederick Hyde Elizabeth Jane Logan 💍 1888/2011	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 years 23 years	Tuakau Tuakau	10 years 20 years	House of John Logan Tuakau	88/2048		17 September 1888	Rev J Law Wesleyan Minister

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).