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 1301

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
333	12 December 1888	Robert Gray Newell Jane White	Robert Gray Newell Jane White 💍 1889/543	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 30	Wellington Wellington	18 months years	St Pauls Cathedral	88/298		12 December 1888	Rev John Shill
334	14 December 1888	Robert Alexander Dandison Clara Eliza Friend	Robert Alexander Davidson Clara Eliza Friend 💍 1888/3056	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years 2 months	Registrars office Wellington	88/3025		14 December 1888	W. T. Wyall
335	15 December 1888	Thomas William Cooper Augusta Hulda Pauline Kreig	Thomas William Cooper Augusta Hulda Pauline Kreig 💍 1888/3057	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	24 16	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	88/3026	Charles Kreig, Father	15 December 1888	W. T. Wyall
336	17 December 1888	William Alfred Dodds Elizabeth Annie Howard	William Alfred Dodds Elizabeth Annie Howard 💍 1888/2930	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	26 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Charles Church	88/2998		17 December 1888	Rev R. Coffey
337	17 December 1888	James Ranson Susanna White	James Ranson Susanna Waite 💍 1888/3058	Widower Widow	Builder	58 38	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	88/3027		17 December 1888	W. T. Wyall
338	17 December 1888	Carl Oskar Jorgensen Annie Poyston	Carl Oekar Jorgensen Annie Poynton 💍 1888/2859	Bachelor Spinster	Stoneman	24 28	Kilbirnie Kilbirnie	years 1 year	House of Revd W. S. Potter	88/2976		17 December 1888	Rev W. S. Potter
339	18 December 1888	Hori Te Puni Margaret Burns	Hori Te Puni Margaret Burns 💍 1888/2881	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 18	Petone Petone	years years	St. James Church Lower Hutt	88/2974	Richard Burns, Father	18 December 1888	Right Rev Bishop of Wellington
340	18 December 1888	George Saker Harriet Jane Harris	George Saker Harriet Jane Harris 💍 1888/2872	Bachelor Spinster	Learman	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Saker, Normanby Street	88/2988		18 December 1888	Rev Joseph Berry
341	19 December 1888	George James Hancock Martha Jane Gales	George James Hancock Martha Jane Oates 💍 1888/2839	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hancock, Wordsworth Street	88/2956		19 December 1888	Mr. Samuel Costall
342	19 December 1888	Francis Theodore Sherriff Ada Winifred Clarkson	Francis Theodore Sherriff Ada Winnifred Clarkson 💍 1888/2868	Bachelor Spinster	Law Student	43 21	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	88/2967		19 December 1888	Venble Archdeacon Revd John Fancourt
343	19 December 1888	David Balls Mary Ann White	David Balls Mary Ann White 💍 1888/2858 William Garford Mary Ann White 💍 1888/1602	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	38 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. James Lower Hutt	88/2975		19 December 1888	Rev Joshua Jones
344	20 December 1888	James Knowles Ganaway Caroline Bragg	James Knoles Ganaway Caroline Bragg 💍 1888/2838	Widower Widow	Cook	44 59	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of The Revd John Muir	88/2955		20 December 1888	Rev John Muir

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).