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 957

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1888

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

3 July 1888

John Waener
Clara Isask Spinks

John Walker
Clara Trask
💍 1888/2256

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

29
22

Napier
Pat Murri

3 Years
20 years

St John's Church, Napier

88/2275

3 July 1888

Rev D. De B. Hoell, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	3 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Waener	Clara Isask Spinks
BDM Match (66%)	John Walker	Clara Trask
	💍 1888/2256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Pat Murri
Length of Residence	3 Years	20 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Napier
Folio	88/2275
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev D. De B. Hoell, Church of England

11 July 1888

Stewart Boyle
Maria Elizabeth Summers

Stewart Coyles
Maria Elizabeth Sarah Summers
💍 1888/2623

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

30
27

Napier
Napier

4 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Napier

88/2684

11 July 1888

Rev J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

No	61
Date of Notice	11 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Boyle	Maria Elizabeth Summers
BDM Match (83%)	Stewart Coyles	Maria Elizabeth Sarah Summers
	💍 1888/2623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	88/2684
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church

14 July 1888

Joseph McGlone
Bridget Connol

Joseph McGlone
Bridget O'Connor
💍 1888/3630

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
General Servant

31
27

Napier
Napier

2 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

88/3600

14 July 1888

Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Chapel

No	62
Date of Notice	14 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McGlone	Bridget Connol
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph McGlone	Bridget O'Connor
	💍 1888/3630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	General Servant
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	88/3600
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Chapel

21 July 1888

William Kite
Sophia Johansen

William Kite
Sophia Johnsen
💍 1888/2262

Widower
Spinster

Laborer

64
45

Clive
Clive

20 years at Clive
15 years

Residence of the Bridegroom

88/2281

21 July 1888

Rev D. Orr Nicoll, Wesleyan

No	63
Date of Notice	21 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kite	Sophia Johansen
BDM Match (97%)	William Kite	Sophia Johnsen
	💍 1888/2262
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	64	45
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	20 years at Clive	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bridegroom
Folio	88/2281
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev D. Orr Nicoll, Wesleyan

21 July 1888

Edward Mortimer
Gillan Maurice Helena Steen

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

28
30

Napier
Napier

2 years
2 years

Registrar Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/2282

21 July 1888

S. J. Jago, Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	21 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Mortimer	Gillan Maurice Helena Steen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/2282
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1888
Officiating Minister	S. J. Jago, Registrar

30 July 1888

Ernest Richter Dixon
Ada Constance Hargrave

Earnest Richton Dixon
Ada Constance Hargrave
💍 1888/2249

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

34
27

Napier
Clive

10 days
10 years

Church of England at Clive

88/2274

30 July 1888

Rev J. H. Maclean, Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	30 July 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Richter Dixon	Ada Constance Hargrave
BDM Match (93%)	Earnest Richton Dixon	Ada Constance Hargrave
	💍 1888/2249
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	10 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Clive
Folio	88/2274
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Maclean, Church of England

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).