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 714

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1888 Registrar A. M. Ure

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

190

12 June 1888

William Henry Harbour
Alice Christina Dwyer

William Henry Harbour
Alice Christina Dwyer
💍 1888/3475

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
18 years

Woodhaugh
Woodhaugh

14 years
7 years

In St. Patricks Church

88/3550

Michael Dwyer, father of minor

12 June 1888

Revd W. Purton, Roman Catholic Priest

No	190
Date of Notice	12 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harbour	Alice Christina Dwyer
	💍 1888/3475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Woodhaugh	Woodhaugh
Length of Residence	14 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In St. Patricks Church
Folio	88/3550
Consent	Michael Dwyer, father of minor
Date of Certificate	12 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd W. Purton, Roman Catholic Priest

191

12 June 1888

William Macgregor Dickson
Isabella Auchterlonie Kerr

William Morgan Dickson
Isabella Ann Catherine Kerr
💍 1888/1767

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44 years
23 years

Portobello
Portobello

25 years
23 years

In the house of John Kerr, Portobello

88/1746

12 June 1888

Revd A. Greig, Presbyterian Minister

No	191
Date of Notice	12 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Macgregor Dickson	Isabella Auchterlonie Kerr
BDM Match (71%)	William Morgan Dickson	Isabella Ann Catherine Kerr
	💍 1888/1767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Portobello	Portobello
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Kerr, Portobello
Folio	88/1746
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd A. Greig, Presbyterian Minister

192

13 June 1888

Frederick R. Gough Junr
Margaret Lindsay

Frederick Gough Jnr
Margaret Lindsay
💍 1888/1782

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

22 years
28 years

Mornington
Mornington

15 years
10 years

In the house of Frederick R. Gough Junr

88/1778

13 June 1888

Revd S. J. Garlick, Wesleyan Minister

No	192
Date of Notice	13 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick R. Gough Junr	Margaret Lindsay
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Gough Jnr	Margaret Lindsay
	💍 1888/1782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	22 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Frederick R. Gough Junr
Folio	88/1778
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd S. J. Garlick, Wesleyan Minister

193

13 June 1888

Robert Gregg
Catherine Murray

Robert Gregg
Catherine Murray
💍 1888/1795

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

29 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
9 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/1798

13 June 1888

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	193
Date of Notice	13 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gregg	Catherine Murray
	💍 1888/1795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	29 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	9 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/1798
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

194

14 June 1888

Thomas Christie Dawson
Isabella Williamson Millar

Thomas Christie Dawson
Isabella Williamson Millar
💍 1888/1699

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

22 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
4 years

In the house of John Adams, Cumberland Street Dunedin

88/1725

14 June 1888

Revd J. G. Smith, Presbyterian Minister

No	194
Date of Notice	14 June 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Christie Dawson	Isabella Williamson Millar
	💍 1888/1699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Adams, Cumberland Street Dunedin
Folio	88/1725
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd J. G. Smith, Presbyterian Minister

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).