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 921

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
229	3 September 1888	George Henry Iveson Easton Eliza Mary Wallace	George Henry Inson Easton Eliza Mary Wallace 💍 1888/2907	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Kellow, Rev. J. K. Elliott, Maggi[illegible] Street	88/2991	No relation in Colony	17 September 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
230	4 September 1888	Francis Edward Petherick Nellie Cargill Frew	Frances Edward Petherick Nellie Cargill Frew 💍 1888/139	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr S. W. Petherick, Upper Willis Street	88/2210		4 September 1888	Rev. H. A. Driver
231	4 September 1888	Alexander Stowell Kate Mallinder	Alexander Stowell Kate Mullinder 💍 1888/2267	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 18	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr Mallinder, Petone	88/2189	George Mallinder, Father	4 September 1888	Rev. J. McDonald
232	4 September 1888	David White Emily Smith	David White Emily Smith 💍 1888/2266	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	33 30	Petone Petone	years years	House of The Martin	88/2188		4 September 1888	Rev. J. McDonald
233	5 September 1888	James Mockridge Emma King	James Mockridge Emma King 💍 1888/2278	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Cleaner	25 22	Wellington Taita	years years	House of Mr Clarke, Turnbull Street	88/2179		5 September 1888	Rev. John Nixon
234	5 September 1888	George Webber Sagewell Florence Hawkins	George Webber Fazewell Florence Hawkins 💍 1888/2177	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	25 26	Wellington Wellington	8 months 8 months	St. Pauls Cathedral	88/2172		5 September 1888	Rev. John Still
235	5 September 1888	Robert Benefield Harriet Agnes Simond	Robert Benefield Harriet Agnes Simons 💍 1888/2275	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 21	Wellington Wellington	18 months 14.	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	88/2196		5 September 1888	Rev. Joseph Berry
236	6 September 1888	Robert Miller Helen Pryde	Robert Miller Helen Pryde 💍 1888/2641	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr Alexander Pryde, Vivian Street	88/2680		6 September 1888	Rev. J. Paterson
237	6 September 1888	Thomas James Carter Elizabeth Harries King	Thomas James Carter Elizabeth Harriett King 💍 1888/2281	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	20 19	Petone Porirua	years years	St. Peters Church, Tawa Flat	88/2182	John Carter, Father; Harriet King, Mother	6 September 1888	Rev. Thomas Fancourt
238	6 September 1888	William Compton Margaret Helen Claw	William Campion Margaret Helen Clare 💍 1888/2302 William Thornton Margaret Jane Coleman 💍 1888/3393 William Campbell Margaret Carline 💍 1888/175	Widower Widow	Butcher	65 45	Lower Hutt Wellington	years 9 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/2225		6 September 1888	W. T. Wyatt
239	6 September 1888	Frank Garibaldi Francis Assunta Pierotti	Frank Garibaldi Frandi Assunta Pierotti 💍 1888/3077	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	88/3022	No relation in Colony	20 September 1888	W. T. Wyatt
240	7 September 1888	William Henry Probyn Annie Pennifold	William Henry Probyn Annie Pennifold 💍 1888/137	Bachelor Spinster	Coal merchant	28 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	88/2208		7 September 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).