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 1375

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 December 1888 Registrar James Mc Ennis

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

23 October 1888

William Morris
Elizabeth Murtagh

William Morris
Elizabeth Murtagh
💍 1888/3091

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold Miner
none

35 years
18 years

Lariethis - Kumara
Kumara

12 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church

88/3166

Mother of Minor

23 October 1888

Rev. Peter Ramsay

No	9
Date of Notice	23 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morris	Elizabeth Murtagh
	💍 1888/3091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold Miner	none
Age	35 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Lariethis - Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	88/3166
Consent	Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	23 October 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter Ramsay

2 November 1888

Henry Brown
Sophie Mayha Williams

Henry Brown
Sophie Martha Williams
💍 1888/3097

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper
Teacher

55 years
37 years

Kumara
Kumara

3 years
11 years

Dwelling house of the Williams

88/3167

M.N. Mulford

2 November 1888

Rev. Peter Ramsay

No	10
Date of Notice	2 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Brown	Sophie Mayha Williams
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Brown	Sophie Martha Williams
	💍 1888/3097
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper	Teacher
Age	55 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of the Williams
Folio	88/3167
Consent	M.N. Mulford
Date of Certificate	2 November 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter Ramsay

10 November 1888

Richard Turnbull
Bridget Devereux

Richard Turnbull
Bridget Devereux
💍 1888/3100

Widower
Spinster

Overseer Public Works
none

47 years
22 years

Jenemokim Kumara
Kumara

8 days
7 days

Roman Catholic

88/3170

10 November 1888

Rev. Patrick Treacey

No	11
Date of Notice	10 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Turnbull	Bridget Devereux
	💍 1888/3100
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Overseer Public Works	none
Age	47 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Jenemokim Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	8 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	88/3170
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Treacey

19 December 1888

George Watson Greeves
Catherine Louisa Magee

George Watson Greeves
Catherine Louisa Magee
💍 1888/3098

Bachelor
Widow

Gold Miner
Milliner

32 years
44 years

Dillman's Kumara
Dillman's Kumara

11 years
11 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Kumara

88/3168

M.N. King

19 December 1888

J. Mc Ennis, Registrar of Marriages at Kumara

No	12
Date of Notice	19 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Watson Greeves	Catherine Louisa Magee
	💍 1888/3098
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gold Miner	Milliner
Age	32 years	44 years
Dwelling Place	Dillman's Kumara	Dillman's Kumara
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Kumara
Folio	88/3168
Consent	M.N. King
Date of Certificate	19 December 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Mc Ennis, Registrar of Marriages at Kumara

27 December 1888

Martin Fahey
Mary Susan O'Lahuty

Martin Fahey
Mary Susan O'Flaherty
💍 1888/3101

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
none

27 years
21 years

Kumara
Kumara

4 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara

88/3171

27 December 1888

Rev. Patrick Treacey

No	13
Date of Notice	27 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Fahey	Mary Susan O'Lahuty
BDM Match (91%)	Martin Fahey	Mary Susan O'Flaherty
	💍 1888/3101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	none
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Kumara
Folio	88/3171
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Treacey

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).