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 967

District of Wairau 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
25	2 July 1888	Alfred Henry Oldershaw Janet Pollock	Alfred Henry Oldershaw Janet Pollock 💍 1888/2252	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	24 years 21 years	Blenheim Blenheim	6 years 18 months	The House of Mr. Peter Connell, Bridge Street, Blenheim	88/2294		2 July 1888	Revd. W. O. Robb
26	2 July 1888	Charles Samuel Jenner Alice Jellyman	Charles Samuel Jannens Alice Jellyman 💍 1888/2309	Widower Spinster	Labourer	33 years 29 years	Dillon Street, Blenheim Blenheim	about 5 years 4 months	The House of Mr. Henry Jellyman, South Street, Blenheim	88/2298		2 July 1888	Revd. W. O. Robb
27	13 July 1888	William Mead Alice Simms	William Mead Alice Timms 💍 1888/2246	Bachelor Spinster	Station hand	22 years 19 years	Wairau Valley Wairau Valley	3 years 19 years	The Church of the Good Shepherd, Wairau Valley	88/2289	Samuel Simms, father	13 July 1888	Revd. L. S. Grace
28	19 July 1888	Thomas Hodson Mary Johnston	Thomas Hodson Mary Johnston 💍 1888/2244	Widower Spinster	Labourer Housekeeper	45 years 34 years	Blenheim Blenheim	about 4 years about 1 year	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	88/2287		19 July 1888	The Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
29	7 August 1888	Harry Fleetwood Thompson Frances Isabella Pasley	Harry Fleetwood Thompson Frances Isabella Pasley 💍 1888/2247	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	29 years 21 years	Blenheim Blenheim	5 years 4 months 12 years	The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim	88/2290		7 August 1888	Revd. L. S. Grace
30	10 August 1888	James Br. Conway Julia Casey	James McConway Julia Casey 💍 1888/2254	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 years 24 years	Spring Creek Renwick new Road	5 years 19 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	88/2296		10 August 1888	Revd. Fr. J. Lewis
31	15 August 1888	Richard Beal Elizabeth Jane Mears	Richard Beal Elizabeth Jane Mears 💍 1888/2248	Widower Spinster	Farmer	48 years 23 years	Renwick new Road Murphy's Brook Road	25 years 5 months	The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim	88/2291		15 August 1888	Revd. L. S. Grace
32	5 September 1888	John Lees Stewart Maria Hatton	John Lees Stewart Maria Hatton 💍 1888/2253	Bachelor Widow	Barman Charwoman	32 years 37 years	Blenheim Blenheim	2 1/2 years 3 1/2 years	The House of Mr. Maria Hatton, Weld Street, Blenheim	88/2295		5 September 1888	Revd. Henry Bull
33	12 September 1888	James Bernard Rigon Hannah Mary O'Sullivan	James Bernard Pigott Hanah Mary O'Sullivan 💍 1888/2255	Bachelor Widow	Draper and Clothier	38 years 35 years	Blenheim Weld Street, Blenheim	about 4 years 14 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	88/2297		12 September 1888	Revd. Fr. J. Lewis

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).