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 1296

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
273	15 October 1888	George Lincoln Cole Fannie Ingram Russell	George Lincoln Cole Fannie Ingram Russell 💍 1888/2918	Bachelor Divorced	Hat maker	21 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	88/2992		15 October 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
274	15 October 1888	Edward Sullivan Elizabeth Frances Rains	Edward Sullivan Elizabeth Frances Rains 💍 1888/3576	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3582		15 October 1888	Rev. P. Kenigan
275	16 October 1888	Patrick Mahony Evelyn Ellen Leary	Patrick Mahony Evelyn Ellen Leary 💍 1888/2833	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 24	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 months	St. Mary's Cathedral	88/2950		16 October 1888	Rev. J. McNamara
276	16 October 1888	John Buncle Esther Margaret Todd	John Buncle Esther Margaret Todd 💍 1888/2877	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 23	Wellington Petone	3 days 1 year	House of Mr. Wilkinson, Petone	88/2970		16 October 1888	Rev. D. J. Murray
277	18 October 1888	Walter King Catherine Sinclair	Walter King Catherine Sinclair 💍 1888/2875	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Fitter	33 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt	88/2968	Margaret Sinclair, mother	18 October 1888	Rev. J. McDonald
278	18 October 1888	Mortimer Collins Martha Vogeler	Mortimer Collins Martha Vogeler 💍 1888/2915	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Wellington Wellington	5 months years	Registrars office, Wellington	88/3007		18 October 1888	W. T. Wyatt
279	22 October 1888	Denis O'Mahony Margaret Fitzpatrick	Denis O'Mahony Margaret Fitzpatrick 💍 1888/2908	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 25	Petone Petone	1 week 1 week	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	88/3000		22 October 1888	Rev. W. Lane
280	23 October 1888	George William Taylor Martha Mary Howells	George William Taylor Martha Mary Howell 💍 1888/3616	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 23	Wellington Warimoke	3 days years	House of Mr. James Veryen, Tawa Flat	88/3612		23 October 1888	Rev. J. Trumbell
281	24 October 1888	John Smith Alice Gard	John Smith Alice Gard 💍 1888/2870	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 25	Porirua Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Carnala in Leah Street	88/2986		24 October 1888	Rev. Joseph Berry
282	30 October 1888	Thomas Walsh Mary Walsh	Thomas Walsh Mary Walsh 💍 1888/3577	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	43 35	Wellington Wellington	3 days 16 days	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3583		30 October 1888	Rev. P. Kenigan
283	31 October 1888	Cornelius O'Leary Julia McMahon	Cornelius O'Leary Julia McMahon 💍 1888/3578	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 26	Rimutaka Wellington	5 weeks years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3584		31 October 1888	Rev. P. Kenigan
284	31 October 1888	John O'Dowd Margaret Bourke	John O'Dowd Margret Anne Bourke 💍 1888/3579	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/3585		31 October 1888	Rev. P. Kerrigan

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).