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 1034

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 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
288	17 August 1888	Charles Brown Mary Ann Davison	Charles Brown Mary Ann Davison 💍 1888/2488	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	39 21	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 10 years	Registrars Office	88/2438		17 August 1888	JM Patterson
289	17 August 1888	James McNeight Watt Mary Ann McIlroy	James McNeight Watt Mary Ann McIlroy 💍 1888/2352	Widower Spinster	Manufacturer	49 29	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 5 years	House of Rev J Orchard, High Street	88/2373		17 August 1888	Rev J Orchard
290	22 August 1888	Henry Hearfield Elizabeth Woods	Henry Hearfield Elizabeth Woods 💍 1888/2372	Bachelor Spinster	Jailor Dressmaker	26 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 19 years	St. Mary's Church	88/2417	Henry Woods, Father	22 August 1888	Rev H East
291	24 August 1888	Charles Herbert Blunt Jessie Annie Packham	Charles Herbert Blunt Jessie Annie Packham 💍 1888/2338	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman Dressmaker	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 7 years	Avonside Church	88/2383		24 August 1888	Rev W A Pascoe
292	27 August 1888	John Hand Mary Ann Legge	John Hand Amy Frances Legge 💍 1888/2492	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	23 20	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 14 years	Registrars Office	88/2441	Frances Legge, Mother	27 August 1888	JM Patterson
293	27 August 1888	John Percy Goodrick Mary Ann Amelia Sparkes	John Percy Goodwick Mary Ann Amelia Sparkes 💍 1888/2383	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 18 years	St. John's Church, Hereford St	88/2405		27 August 1888	Rev H C M Watson
294	28 August 1888	James Little Catherine Tinney Hill	James Little Catherine Luiney Kirk 💍 1888/2375	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	36 23	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 5 years	House of Rev G Webster, Tuam St	88/2420		28 August 1888	Rev G Webster
295	29 August 1888	Frederick John Scott Elizabeth Alicia Priston	Frederick John Scott Elizabeth Alicia Priston 💍 1888/2359	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	22 18	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 7 years	House of Mrs John Scott, Chester St	88/2397	Mrs John Scott, having authority to consent	12 September 1888	Rev W J Williams
296	30 August 1888	Demetrio Fernandez Louisa Barnwell	Demetrio Fernandez Louisa Barwell 💍 1888/2493	Bachelor Spinster	Hawker Servant	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 4 days	Registrars Office	88/2442		30 August 1888	JM Patterson
299	1 September 1888	Joseph George White Annie Gerrard	Joseph George White Annie Gerrard 💍 1888/2494	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Servant	23 20	St. Albans St. Albans	8 years 2 years	Registrars Office	88/2443		1 September 1888	JM Patterson

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).