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 1542

District of Winton Quarter ending 31 December 1888 Registrar Thos. Melville Deputy Registrar

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

4 October 1888

Geo Kirby
Mary Russill Bennie

George Kirby
Mary Russell Bennie
💍 1888/3450

Bachelor
Widow

Baker

29
35

Winton
Winton

Six months
Twenty months

Home of George Kirby, Winton

88/3525

Fourth of October 1888

Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	4 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo Kirby	Mary Russill Bennie
BDM Match (85%)	George Kirby	Mary Russell Bennie
	💍 1888/3450
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Baker
Age	29	35
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	Six months	Twenty months
Marriage Place	Home of George Kirby, Winton
Folio	88/3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	Fourth of October 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

6 October 1888

Michael O'Neill
Bridget Sullivan

Michael O'Neill
Bridget Sullivan
💍 1888/3430

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
17

Winton
Winton

10 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Winton

88/3520

Patrick Sullivan, father

Sixth of October 1888

Rev. Michael Keenan, Roman Catholic

No	36
Date of Notice	6 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael O'Neill	Bridget Sullivan
	💍 1888/3430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Winton
Folio	88/3520
Consent	Patrick Sullivan, father
Date of Certificate	Sixth of October 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Keenan, Roman Catholic

23 October 1888

Angus McDonald
Mary Cameron

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine cleaner

20
22

Winton
Winton

Three days
Three days

Roman Catholic Church, Winton

88/3521

Annie Mulligan, mother

Twenty third of October 1888

Rev. Michael Keenan

No	37
Date of Notice	23 October 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McDonald	Mary Cameron
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine cleaner
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	Three days	Three days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Winton
Folio	88/3521
Consent	Annie Mulligan, mother
Date of Certificate	Twenty third of October 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Keenan

5 November 1888

Hugh McKay
Margaret Euphemia McKenzie

Hugh McKay McLeod
Margaret Euphemia McKenzie
💍 1888/3448

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
19

Winton District
Winton District

Four days
Seven days

Office of the Registrar, Winton

88/3523

Mary Ann Smith or McKenzie, mother

Ninth of November 1888

The Deputy Registrar, Winton

No	38
Date of Notice	5 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McKay	Margaret Euphemia McKenzie
BDM Match (79%)	Hugh McKay McLeod	Margaret Euphemia McKenzie
	💍 1888/3448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Winton District	Winton District
Length of Residence	Four days	Seven days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Winton
Folio	88/3523
Consent	Mary Ann Smith or McKenzie, mother
Date of Certificate	Ninth of November 1888
Officiating Minister	The Deputy Registrar, Winton

14 November 1888

Thomas O'Brien
Mary Ann Thompson

Thomas O'Brien
Mary Anne Thompson
💍 1888/3447

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

29
19

Winton District
Winton District

9 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Winton

88/3522

William Thompson, father

Fourteenth of November 1888

Rev. Michael Keenant, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	14 November 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Brien	Mary Ann Thompson
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas O'Brien	Mary Anne Thompson
	💍 1888/3447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Winton District	Winton District
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Winton
Folio	88/3522
Consent	William Thompson, father
Date of Certificate	Fourteenth of November 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Keenant, Roman Catholic

7 December 1888

Matthew McLeod
Frances Alice Harsley

Matthew McLeod
Frances Alice Hartley
💍 1888/3449

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw miller

22
21

Winton
Winton

16 years
4 months

Church of England, Winton

88/3524

Seventh of December 1888

Rev. Charles J.R. Richardson, Episcopalian

No	40
Date of Notice	7 December 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew McLeod	Frances Alice Harsley
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew McLeod	Frances Alice Hartley
	💍 1888/3449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw miller
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	16 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Winton
Folio	88/3524
Consent
Date of Certificate	Seventh of December 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles J.R. Richardson, Episcopalian

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).