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 859

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1888 Registrar Alexander de Courcy Potter

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

10 July 1888

Alfred Kenyon Alexander
Sarah Annie Leitch

Alfred Kenyon Alexander
Sarah Annie Leitch
💍 1888/2079

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman
None

21 years
22 years

Napier N.Z.
Thames

3 days at Thames
18 years Pollen St.

Thames Dwellinghouse of Mr. Thomas Robinson

88/2050

10 July 1888

Rev. G. J. Reid Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	10 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Kenyon Alexander	Sarah Annie Leitch
	💍 1888/2079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman	None
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Napier N.Z.	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days at Thames	18 years Pollen St.
Marriage Place	Thames Dwellinghouse of Mr. Thomas Robinson
Folio	88/2050
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Reid Presbyterian

24 July 1888

Edward Murphy
Isabella Higgins

Edward Murphy
Isabella Higgins
💍 1888/2092

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Milliner

24 years
20 years

Owen St.
Rolleston St.

1 year
18 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr. Murphy Rolleston St.

88/2057

Mary Ann Murphy, Mother of minor

24 July 1888

Rev. G. G. Evans Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	24 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Murphy	Isabella Higgins
	💍 1888/2092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Milliner
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Owen St.	Rolleston St.
Length of Residence	1 year	18 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr. Murphy Rolleston St.
Folio	88/2057
Consent	Mary Ann Murphy, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	24 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Evans Church of England

24 July 1888

John Spargo Tretheway
Jane Buckland

John Spargo Tretheway
Jane Buckland
💍 1888/2091

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
None

22 years
24 years

Waikato
Waikato

3 days at Thames
5 days at Thames

Dwellinghouse of Mr. N. Buckland Pollen St.

88/2056

25 July 1888

Rev. G. G. Evans Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	24 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Spargo Tretheway	Jane Buckland
	💍 1888/2091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	None
Age	22 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Waikato	Waikato
Length of Residence	3 days at Thames	5 days at Thames
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr. N. Buckland Pollen St.
Folio	88/2056
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Evans Church of England

7 August 1888

Thomas Dunlop
Matilda Jane McCormick

Thomas Dunlop
Matilda Jane McCormick
💍 1888/2086

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22 years
20 years

Hape Creek
Hill St.

20 years
20 years

Dwellinghouse of Mr. James McCormick Hill St.

88/2051

James McCormick, father of minor

7 August 1888

Rev. G. J. Reid Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	7 August 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dunlop	Matilda Jane McCormick
	💍 1888/2086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Hape Creek	Hill St.
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Mr. James McCormick Hill St.
Folio	88/2051
Consent	James McCormick, father of minor
Date of Certificate	7 August 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Reid Presbyterian

31 August 1888

Daniel George Saunders
Annie Hamilton Miller

Daniel George Saunders
Annie Hamilton Miller
💍 1888/2087

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
None

23 years
22 years

Parawai
Pollen St.

10 months
20 years

Dwelling House of Mr. Miller Pollen St.

88/2052

31 August 1888

Rev. W. A. Worley Baptist

No	20
Date of Notice	31 August 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel George Saunders	Annie Hamilton Miller
	💍 1888/2087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	None
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Pollen St.
Length of Residence	10 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr. Miller Pollen St.
Folio	88/2052
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Worley Baptist

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).