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 530

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
125	4 May 1888	William Forsyth Louisa Hannah West	William Forsythe Louisa Hannah West 💍 1888/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 27	Wellington Wellington	3 Weeks 6 days	House of the Revd J. K. Elliott	88/1218		4 May 1888	Revd J. K. Elliott
126	5 May 1888	John Sheehan Julia O'Brien	John Sheehan Julia OBrien 💍 1888/1333	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Wellington Wellington	6 Weeks 12 months	St Mary of the Angels	88/1188		5 May 1888	Revd P. Kerrigan
127	8 May 1888	Robert Nowell Louise Lemoine	Robert Norwell Louise Lemoine 💍 1888/1469	Bachelor Widow	Salesman	27 27	Wellington Wellington	7 months 7 months	Registrars office Wellington	88/1233		8 May 1888	W. T. Wyall
128	9 May 1888	Edward Donovan Maria Stafford	Edward Donovan Maria Hefford 💍 1888/1471	Widower Widow	Gardener	58 36	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	88/1235		9 May 1888	W. T. Wyall
129	9 May 1888	George Whitaker Annie Kelly	George Whittaker Annie Kelly 💍 1888/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 22	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 months	Registrars office Wellington	88/1234		9 May 1888	W. T. Wyall
130	9 May 1888	Peter McColl Kathleen Georgina Bastin	Peter McColl Kathleen Georgina Bastin 💍 1888/1322	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Fitter	24 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Pauls Cathedral	88/1177		9 May 1888	Revd John Stile
131	10 May 1888	Alexander Forsyth Elizabeth Jane Garrick	Alexander Forsyth Elizabeth Jane Garrick 💍 1888/1269	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd J. K. Elliott	88/1219		10 May 1888	Revd J. K. Elliott
132	10 May 1888	Thomas Compton Jessie Belinda Lucy Mitchell	Thomas Campton Jessy Belind Lucy Mitchell 💍 1888/1336	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 24	Melbourne Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	88/1169		10 May 1888	Revd R. Coffey
133	11 May 1888	Thomas Dick Elizabeth Jane Bolton	Thomas Silk Elizabeth Jane Bolton 💍 1888/1247	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Dick Tory Street	88/1203		11 May 1888	Revd D. J. Murray
134	14 May 1888	Herbert Catchpool Pilcher Elizabeth Lockie	Herbert Catchpool Pilcher Elizabeth Lockie 💍 1888/1329	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr J. Lockie Majoribanks Street	88/1166		14 May 1888	Revd Wm Grant
135	15 May 1888	Samuel Martin Sparkes Mary Elizabeth Penfold	Samuel Martina Sparkes Mary Elizabeth Pinfold 💍 1888/1331	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Moulder	21 18	Wellington Wellington	years years		88/1185	No relation	29 May 1888	In Colony
136	16 May 1888	James Wade Jane Broadbent	James Wade Hannah Jane Broadbent 💍 1888/1340	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter	24 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Sample Waller Street	88/1173		16 May 1888	Revd E. D. Cecil

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).