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 1299

District of Wellington 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
309	24 November 1888	James Horsfall Rose Flora Stephylah Walsh	James Horsfall Rose Flora Hephzibah Walch 💍 1888/2880	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Petone Petone	18 months 9 months	Christchurch	88/2973	Walter Walsh, Father	24 November 1888	Revd. Joshua Jones
310	26 November 1888	George Kerr Annie Robertson	George Kerr Annie Robertson 💍 1888/2864 George Winter Dolamore Hannah Robertson 💍 1888/1442	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 27	Wellington Woolcombe Street	1 year 2 years	St. Johns Church	88/2981		26 November 1888	Revd. J. Paterson
311	26 November 1888	James George Bennett Maud Fried Wimsett	James George Bennett Maud Field Winsett 💍 1888/2927	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial maker	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	St. Marks Church	88/2995		26 November 1888	Revd. R. Coffey
312	26 November 1888	Frederick James Tenny Marion Amelia Letherick	Frederick James Pinny Marion Amelia Petherick 💍 1888/2867	Widower Spinster	Architect	32 25	Wellington Vivian Street	years years	Baptist Church	88/2984		26 November 1888	Revd. H. H. Driver
313	26 November 1888	Robert Percival Cook Susan Stone	Robert Percival Cook Susan Moore 💍 1888/2857	Bachelor Spinster	Station master	22 21	Johnsonville Wellington	1 month years	St. Pauls Cathedral	88/2966		26 November 1888	Revd. John Still
314	28 November 1888	John Sulley Sarah Lowry	John Tullett Sarah Lowry 💍 1888/3055	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	88/3016		28 November 1888	W. T. Wyatt
315	28 November 1888	Arthur Docson Maria Harriet Haybittle	Arthur Doerr Maria Harriet Haybittle 💍 1888/3066	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	30 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	88/3017		28 November 1888	W. T. Wyatt
316	3 December 1888	Enoch Horsfall Mary Wade	Enoch Horsefall Mary Wade 💍 1888/3581	Bachelor Spinster	Weaver	25 22	Petone Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3587		3 December 1888	Revd. P. Kerrigan
317	3 December 1888	William Arthur Bland Dalton Rose Mann	William Arthur Bland Dalton Rose Mann 💍 1888/2929	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	88/2997		3 December 1888	Revd. R. Coffey
318	3 December 1888	William Harold Sefton Workhouse Jessie Matilda Hunter	William Harold Sefton Morehouse Jessie Matilda Hunter 💍 1888/2849	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	88/2965		3 December 1888	Revd. John Still
319	3 December 1888	John Henry Allan Campbell Jane Sophia Priest	John Henry Allan Campbell Jane Sophia Priest 💍 1888/2865	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	21 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Johns Church	88/2982	Samuel Isaac Priest, Father	3 December 1888	Revd. J. Paterson
320	3 December 1888	Joseph Japhet Cottle Rebecca George	Joseph Japhet Cottle Rebecca George 💍 1888/2837	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Wellington Riddiford Street	3 days years	House of Mr George Carter	88/2954		3 December 1888	Revd. John Muir

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).