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 1309

District of Masterton 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
25	24 October 1888	Frederick Henry Wrigley Catherine McLeod	Frederick Henry Wrigley Catherine McLeod 💍 1888/2951	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 24	Rangituman Opaki	12 Months 2 years	House of Mr Angus McLeod, Opaki	88/3044		24 October 1888	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
26	5 November 1888	Hemming Petersen Mary Ann McLaughlan	Hemming Petersen Maryann McLaughlin 💍 1888/3071	Widower Spinster	Farmer	31 16	Mangaone Mangaone	4 years 4 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	88/3038	both parents deceased	19 November 1888	Rev John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
27	19 November 1888	Albert George Wiley Annie Christina Johnson Busch	Albert Alonzo Wiley Annie Christina Johnsen Busch 💍 1888/2952	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Masterton Masterton	4 days 2 years	House of Mrs Mary Busch, Dixon Street	88/3045		19 November 1888	Rev David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
28	22 November 1888	Charlie Hayns Youngson Margaret Wilson Youngson	Charlie Haynes Margaret Wilson Youngson 💍 1888/2953	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Mangamohoe Mangamohoe	3 years 3 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	88/3046	John Youngson, father	22 November 1888	John Bagge, Registrar
29	18 December 1888	Sven Syderation Lina Anesen	Sven Syverston Lina Arnesen 💍 1888/3070	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 29	Masterton Masterton	2 years 2 years	Lutheran Church, Mauriceville	88/3038		18 December 1888	Rev Mads Christensen, Lutheran Minister
30	24 December 1888	Peter Sinclair Macdonald Ellen Henrietta Duckett	Peter Sinclair Macdonald Ellen Henrietta Duckett 💍 1888/2932	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 16	Masterton Mikie Mikie	5 days 12 years	House of Mr John Duckett, Mikie Mikie	88/3041	John Duckett, father	24 December 1888	Rev William Rouse, Wesleyan Minister
31	26 December 1888	John Brosnan Johanna Menzina Christina Thomasen	John Brosnan Johanne Yensina Christine Thomasen 💍 1888/3072	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 19	Eketahuna Eketahuna	3 years 14 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	88/3040	Soren Thomasen, father	26 December 1888	Rev John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

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).