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 919

District of Wellington 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
205	11 August 1888	Stewart Menzies Ada Perry	Stewart Menzies Ada Perry 💍 1888/2272	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	31 21	Silver Stream Silver Stream	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	88/2194		11 August 1888	Revd. Joshua Jones
206	11 August 1888	Charles Henry Lewis Palmer Clara Perry	Charles Henry Lewis Palmer Clara Perry 💍 1888/2273	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	18 18	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	88/2195	Clara Palmer, Mother; Alfred Perry, Guardian	11 August 1888	Revd. Joshua Jones
207	11 August 1888	Frank Thomas Horne Theresa Buch	Frank Thomas Moore Theresa Beech 💍 1888/2180	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 26	Karori Ohariu	2 months years	St. Mary's Cathedral	88/2175		11 August 1888	Revd. J. McNamara
208	11 August 1888	William Noble Mary Ann Elizabeth Finch	William Noble Mary Ann Elizabeth Finch 💍 1888/2268	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 22	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr. Finch, Petone	88/2190		11 August 1888	Revd. C. Penney
209	11 August 1888	Daniel Partridge Ellen Elizabeth Church	Daniel Partridge Ellen Elizabeth Church 💍 1888/2284	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 28	Whitemans Valley Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/2228		11 August 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt
210	13 August 1888	Alfred William Watson Emily May	Alfred William Watson Emily May 💍 1888/2271	Bachelor Spinster	Spinner	23 18	Petone Petone	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	88/2193	James May, Father	13 August 1888	Revd. Joshua Jones
211	13 August 1888	Harry Carter Ellen Harrington	Harry Carter Ellen Harrington 💍 1888/135	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. S. Smith, Willis Street	88/2198		13 August 1888	Revd. W. G. Potter
212	13 August 1888	William Thomas Claridge Emily Sophia Johnson	William Thomas Claridge Sophia Emily Johnsen 💍 1888/2279	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	42 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	88/2180		13 August 1888	Revd. R. Coffey
213	14 August 1888	Cornelius Edwin Stevens Sarah Reeves	Cornelius Edwin Stevens Sarah Reeves 💍 1888/2283	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years 10 months	House of Mr. John Biddle, Hopper Street	88/2185		14 August 1888	Revd. Wm. Lee
214	14 August 1888	Jany Porter Harriet Mary Theresa Bennett	Jay Porter Harriet Mary Theresa Bennett 💍 1888/150	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/2220		14 August 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt
215	18 August 1888	John Harvey Letitia Coulter	John Harvey Letitia Coulter 💍 1888/151	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 21	Petone Petone	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/2221		18 August 1888	Mr. T. Wyatt
216	20 August 1888	Robert Richard Auty Mary Victoria Tuckwell	Robert Richard Auty May Victoria Tuckwell 💍 1888/2269	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	15 months years	House of Mr. Bell, Sussex Square	88/2191	William Scott, Guardian	20 August 1888	Revd. Charles Penney

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).