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 918

District of Wellington 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
193	23 July 1888	Alexander Houston Helen Genther	Alexander Houston Helen Gunther 💍 1888/158	Bachelor Spinster	Lalner	28 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Taranaki Street	88/2205		23 July 1888	Revd J. K. Elliott
194	31 July 1888	James Edwin Bradley Mary Brown	James Edwin Bradley Mary Brown 💍 1888/2170	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/2166		31 July 1888	Revd P. Kerrigan
195	1 August 1888	George Paling Campion Rosina Sarah Ellen G. Summers	George Paling Campion Rosina Sarah Ellen Greenwill Timmers 💍 1888/144	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	31 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	88/2215		1 August 1888	Mr. I. Wyatt
196	1 August 1888	Donald Munday Susannah Elizabeth Loftus Munday	Donald Munday Susannah Elizabeth Loftus Munday 💍 1888/145	Bachelor Widow	Settler	51 42	Wellington Wellington	3 months 6 months	Registrars office, Wellington	88/2216		1 August 1888	Mr. I. Wyatt
197	3 August 1888	Henry Mark Pitt Ellen Pounds	Henry Mark Pitt Ellen Porutu 💍 1888/146	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	25 40	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bride, Pipitea Point	88/2199		3 August 1888	Revd W. G. Potter
198	3 August 1888	George Alfred McKeage Kate Thomas	George Alfred McKenzie Kate Thomas 💍 1888/2169	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/2165		3 August 1888	Revd P. Kerrigan
199	4 August 1888	John Williamson Flora Emma Webb	John Williamson Flora Emma Webb 💍 1888/147	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer	28 17	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Registrars office, Wellington	88/2217	George Webb, Father	4 August 1888	Mr. I. Wyatt
200	4 August 1888	Robert Sloan Margaret McGlashan	Robert Sloan Margaret McGlashan 💍 1888/159	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	45 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. J. Sloan, Hawker Street	88/2206		4 August 1888	Revd J. K. Elliott
201	6 August 1888	Arthur Ivaall Turner Sarah Jones	Arthur Tisdall Turnes Sarah Jones 💍 1888/3557	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	21 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	88/2184		6 August 1888	Revd W. Lee
202	8 August 1888	John McVicker Elizabeth Bain	John McVicker Elizabeth Bain 💍 1888/148	Bachelor Widow	Baker	39 43	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	88/2218		8 August 1888	Mr. I. Wyatt
203	9 August 1888	John Lane Margaret Grace Allen	John Lane Margaret Grace Allen 💍 1888/149	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Proprietor	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years 3 weeks	Registrars office, Wellington	88/2219		9 August 1888	Mr. I. Wyatt
204	10 August 1888	Richard Giles Knight Alice Watson Hedley	Richard Giles Knight Alice Watson Hedley 💍 1888/2727	Widower Spinster	Sailmaker	47 24	Wellington Wellington	years 6 weeks	Congregational Church, Bowen Street	88/2696		10 August 1888	Revd W. H. West

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).