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 899

District of Wanganui 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
31	2 July 1888	Daniel O'Brian Ellen Sweeney	Daniel O'Brien Ellen Sweeney 💍 1888/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	47 30	Mosstown Mosstown	6 months 6 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	88/2115		2 July 1888	C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
32	9 July 1888	Francis Gilligan Elizabeth Jane Ross	Francis Gilligan Elizabeth Jane Ross 💍 1888/2204	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 19	Makirikiri Wanganui	10 years 19 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2125		9 July 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar
33	9 July 1888	Nathaniel Flowers Catherine King	Nathaniel Flowers Margaret Isabella Catherine King 💍 1888/2205	Widower Widow	Sweep	55 44	Wanganui Wanganui	31 years 6 weeks	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2126		9 July 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar
34	16 July 1888	Nels Olsen Marie Voss	Nels Olsen Marie Voss 💍 1888/2118	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 28	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2126		16 July 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar
35	17 July 1888	William Meehan Annie Brown	William Meehan Annie Brown 💍 1888/2195	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	25 18	Wanganui Wanganui	25 years 18 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	88/2127	Parents of bride, to give consent	1 August 1888	C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
36	18 July 1888	John Trussell Clara Osborne	John Trussell Clara Osborne 💍 1888/2129	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	22 22	Wanganui Wanganui	7 years 9 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2127		18 July 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar
37	25 July 1888	William Ellis Sarah Elizabeth Spittle Sundell	William Ellis Sarah Elizabeth Sporle Fundell 💍 1888/2135	Widower Widow	Laborer	51 46	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2128		25 July 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar
38	30 July 1888	John Trigean Lilian Abbiss	John Prujean Lillian Emily Abbiss 💍 1888/2200	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	43 23	Dudley Fordell	13 years 3 years	In the residence of Mr. Abbiss, Fordell	88/2120		30 July 1888	P. H. Cameron, Church of England
39	14 August 1888	James Platt Ramsay Selia Osborne	James Pratt Ramsay Celia Osborne 💍 1888/2202	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 20	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 9 years	In Mr. Osborne's residence, Wanganui	88/2118	Eliza Osborne, mother of bride	14 August 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
40	14 August 1888	John Stewart Jane Bell	John Stewart Jane Gurle Bell 💍 1888/2198	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 26	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 months	In the residence of Mr. Britton, Wanganui	88/2119		14 August 1888	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
41	14 August 1888	Andrew Cunningham Bruce Mary Susan Campbell	Andrew Cunningham Bruce Mary Susan Campbell 💍 1888/2197	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 36	Turakina Durietown	37 years 36 years	In the residence of Mr. R. Barrett, Durietown	88/2118		14 August 1888	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
42	18 August 1888	Charles James Hollis Harrietta Louisa Roberts	Charles Hollis Harriette Louisa Roberts 💍 1888/2203	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	25 22	Wanganui Wanganui	24 years 15 months	In the residence of Mr. V. Nichol, Wanganui	88/2123		18 August 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
43	7 September 1888	Robert Frederick Young Minnie Nelson	Robert Frederick Young Minnie Nelson 💍 1888/2136	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 17	Wanganui Wanganui	18 months 10 months	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/2124	Johanna Nelson, mother of bride	10 September 1888	J. H. Woon, Registrar

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).