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 1239

District of THAMES Quarter ending 31 December 1888 Registrar J. H. Dalton

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

21 December 1888

Frank Charles Stevens
Margaret Killgour

Frank Charles Stevens
Margaret Killgour
💍 1888/3596

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican
None

26 years
25 years

Kauaeranga Valley
Kauaeranga Valley

14 years
10 years

Dwelling House of Mr Stevens, Parawai

88/3578

21 December 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	21 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Charles Stevens	Margaret Killgour
	💍 1888/3596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican	None
Age	26 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Kauaeranga Valley	Kauaeranga Valley
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr Stevens, Parawai
Folio	88/3578
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

22 December 1888

Henry Gordon Reid
Annie Taylor

Henry Gordon Reid
Annie Taylor McCoid
💍 1888/2767

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
None

27 years
19 years

Waihou
Rosseston St

20 years
4 years

Dwelling House of Mr Reid

88/2857

Annie Taylor, Mother of minor

22 December 1888

Rev. J. Reid, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	22 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gordon Reid	Annie Taylor
BDM Match (82%)	Henry Gordon Reid	Annie Taylor McCoid
	💍 1888/2767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	None
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Rosseston St
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr Reid
Folio	88/2857
Consent	Annie Taylor, Mother of minor
Date of Certificate	22 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reid, Presbyterian

22 December 1888

Hugh Mackie Smith
Isabella Phelps Smith

Hugh Mackie
Isabella Phebe Smith
💍 1888/3595

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
None

29 years
17 years

Owler St
Owler St

20 years
11 years

Dwelling House of Rev. J. G. Evans, Thames

88/3577

William Smith, Father of minor

22 December 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	22 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Mackie Smith	Isabella Phelps Smith
BDM Match (75%)	Hugh Mackie	Isabella Phebe Smith
	💍 1888/3595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	None
Age	29 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Owler St	Owler St
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Rev. J. G. Evans, Thames
Folio	88/3577
Consent	William Smith, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	22 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

24 December 1888

John McLeod
Julia Ann Reilly

John McLeod
Julia Ann Reilly
💍 1888/2769

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Servant

30 years
23 years

Beach Road
Burke St

6 years
5 years

St Francis Church, Thames

88/2859

24 December 1888

Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

No	32
Date of Notice	24 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLeod	Julia Ann Reilly
	💍 1888/2769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Servant
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Beach Road	Burke St
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Thames
Folio	88/2859
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Reilly, Roman Catholic

26 December 1888

George Adams
Kate Eliza Garrett

George Adams
Kate Eliza Turrell
💍 1888/2771

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

24 years
21 years

Ot Aroha
Rossiston St

3 days
20 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

88/2861

26 December 1888

J. de L. Potterton, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	26 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Adams	Kate Eliza Garrett
BDM Match (89%)	George Adams	Kate Eliza Turrell
	💍 1888/2771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ot Aroha	Rossiston St
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	88/2861
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 December 1888
Officiating Minister	J. de L. Potterton, Registrar

27 December 1888

Francis William Lipsey
Emma Jane Gibbons

Francis William Lepsey
Emma Jane Gibbons
💍 1889/119

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
None

21 years
23 years

Whirinaki
Whirinaki

3 days
3 days

St George's Church at Thames

88/146

27 December 1888

Rev. J. G. Evans, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Lipsey	Emma Jane Gibbons
BDM Match (98%)	Francis William Lepsey	Emma Jane Gibbons
	💍 1889/119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	None
Age	21 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Whirinaki	Whirinaki
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St George's Church at Thames
Folio	88/146
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Evans, 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).