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 1030

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
248	7 July 1888	Reuben Hannam Mary O'Brien		Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Servant	32 21	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 2 years	Registrars Office	No Marriage		7 July 1888	J. M. Patterson
249	9 July 1888	John Raward Hartle & Jane Lockhead Graham		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Weaver	28 23	Christchurch Kaiapoi	13 years 7 years	Presbyterian Church	88/2362		9 July 1888	Rev. R. McGregor
250	10 July 1888	William Davis Annie Finch Wilson	William Davis Eliza Anne Finch 💍 1888/2502	Widower Widow	Farmer Teacher	64 31	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 5 years	Registrars Office	88/2428		10 July 1888	J. M. Patterson
251	10 July 1888	Donald Munro Lilly Bell Scott	Donald Munro Lily Bell Scott 💍 1888/3471	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 23 years	St. Pauls Church, Cashel Street	88/3569		10 July 1888	Rev. J. Elmslie
252	10 July 1888	Richard Dedding Kate Rossiter	Richard Dudding Kate Rossiter 💍 1888/2382	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 22	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 4 years	St. Johns Church	88/2404		10 July 1888	Rev. H. W. Watson
253	11 July 1888	William Hartigan Ellen O'Shaughnessy	William Hartigan Ellen O'Shaughnessy 💍 1888/2381	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 27	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 5 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/2403		11 July 1888	Rev. J. C. Chervier
254	11 July 1888	Hugh McKenna Catherine Traguer	Hugh McKenna Catherine Traynor 💍 1888/2355	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 28	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church	88/2376		12 July 1888	Rev. J. Cummings
255	12 July 1888	Alfred Welch Maria Lomas	Alfred Welsh Maria Lomas 💍 1888/2503	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Servant	25 19	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	Registrars Office	88/2429	Lavina Lomas, Mother	12 July 1888	J. M. Patterson
256	13 July 1888	Arthur Church Jane O'Neill Johnston		Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	29 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 25 years	Registrars Office	88/2430		13 July 1888	J. M. Patterson
257	16 July 1888	John Davie Taylor & Thirza Maria Clark	John Davie Taylor Thirza Maria Clark 💍 1888/2480	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	19 19	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 13 years	St. Michaels Church	88/2422	James Taylor, Father & Thirza Maria Clark, Mother	16 July 1888	Rev. W. Harpe

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).