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 1279

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
45	2 October 1888	Edward Colton Annia Harman	Edward Colton Annie Harman 💍 1888/2885	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	40 34	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the residence of Mr. James Kearse, Wanganui	88/926	2 October 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
46	9 October 1888	William Beaumont Ada Bellamy	William Beaumont Ada Bellamy 💍 1888/2883	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	29 18	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 60 yrs.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	88/927	9 October 1888	T. C. Tudor, Church of England
47	17 October 1888	Ernest Gaddy Harding Harriet Ann Harris	Ernest Galdy Harding Harriet Ann Harris 💍 1888/2886	Bachelor Spinster	Cheesemaker	22 20	Otorohanga Wanganui	4 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the residence of Mr. Charles Toki, Toki	88/922	17 October 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
48	29 October 1888	Andrew Wright Thomson Te Rakura Anderson		Bachelor Widow	Mailman	23 26	Petone Petone	2 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/920	29 October 1888	G. W. Moon, Registrar
49	8 November 1888	James Bowater Mary Ann Wrigley	James Bowater Mary Ann Wrigley 💍 1888/2887	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	61 65	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 5 days	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui	88/928	8 November 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
50	12 November 1888	James Walker Jessi McKenzie	James Walker Jessie McKenzie 💍 1888/2904 James Abernethy Bessie McKenzie 💍 1888/910	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 30	Wanganui Wanganui	6 mos. 3 days	In the residence of Mr. McDonald, Ball Street, Wanganui	88/921	12 November 1888	James Taradwell, Presbyterian
51	13 November 1888	Willoughby Bruyere Charlotte Boyd	Hippolyte Bruyere Charlotte Boyd 💍 1888/2901	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee	34 23	Wanganui Wanganui	18 mos. 12 mos.	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	88/918	13 November 1888	C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
52	26 November 1888	William Henry Batchelar Mary Ellen Gilday	William Henry Batchelar Mary Ellen Gilday 💍 1888/2902	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 28	Kaitoke Wanganui	22 yrs. 3 yrs.	In the residence of T. Patrick, Galvin, Tay Street, Wanganui	88/919	26 November 1888	C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
53	5 December 1888	James Fisher Alice Emily Boyes	James Kircher Alice Emily Boyce 💍 1888/2888 James Miller Alice Priscilla Keates 💍 1888/3293 James North Alice Emily Morgan 💍 1888/1926	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	26 25	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 4 wks.	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui	88/929	5 December 1888	W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan
54	17 December 1888	Joseph William Burns Isabella Smith	Joseph William Burne Isabella Smith 💍 1888/2884	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 wks.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	88/925	18 December 1888	T. C. Tudor, Church of England
55	18 December 1888	Alexander Captain McLean Emily Ann Bradley	Alexander Carstairs McNeill Emily Ann Bradley 💍 1888/2903	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 27	Aramoho Aramoho	8 yrs. 15 yrs.	At Aramoho	88/920	18 December 1888	P. L. Cameron, Church of England
56	22 December 1888	Lewis Noble Maria Rawlings	Lewis Noble Maria Rawlings 💍 1888/2906	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 29	Wanganui Woodlands	10 days 5 yrs.	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/923	22 December 1888	G. W. Moon, Registrar

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).