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 448

District of Auckland Quarter ending 20 June 1888

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

238

7 May 1888

Thomas Connell
Eva Trelson

Thomas McConnell
Eva Nelson
💍 1888/90

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Spinster

23
22

Have Street
Have Street

23 years
22 years

Residence of Robert [illegible]

88/931

7 May 1888

Rev. C. E. Ward

No	238
Date of Notice	7 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Connell	Eva Trelson
BDM Match (85%)	Thomas McConnell	Eva Nelson
	💍 1888/90
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Spinster
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Have Street	Have Street
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Robert [illegible]
Folio	88/931
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward

239

7 May 1888

Ernest Pembroke Sheppard
Kathleen Hinchan

Ernest Pembroke Sheppard
Kathleen Minahan
💍 1888/990

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Spinster

23
20

Ponsonby Road
Wellington

14 days
20 years

Church

88/940

22 May 1888

Rev. R. F. Grindrod

No	239
Date of Notice	7 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Pembroke Sheppard	Kathleen Hinchan
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Pembroke Sheppard	Kathleen Minahan
	💍 1888/990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Spinster
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby Road	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	88/940
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Grindrod

240

7 May 1888

Arthur Nelson
Julia McIntyre

Arthur Nelson
Julia McIntyre
💍 1888/984

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Spinster

26
23

Hobson Street
Surrey Crescent

7 years
11 years

Manse

88/939

7 May 1888

Rev. R. F. Grindrod

No	240
Date of Notice	7 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Nelson	Julia McIntyre
	💍 1888/984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Spinster
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Hobson Street	Surrey Crescent
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Manse
Folio	88/939
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Grindrod

241

7 May 1888

Patrick Conway
Elizabeth Ruby Greenwood

Patrick Conway
Elizabeth Lucy Greenwood
💍 1888/978

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Spinster

21
22

Ponsonby
Ponsonby

21 years
15 years

Church

88/951

7 May 1888

Rev. C. Downey

No	241
Date of Notice	7 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Conway	Elizabeth Ruby Greenwood
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Conway	Elizabeth Lucy Greenwood
	💍 1888/978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Spinster
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	21 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	88/951
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Downey

242

9 May 1888

Percy Adolphus Tuke
Gertrude Elmshagen

Percy Adolphus Vaile
Gertrude Elmsly
💍 1888/999

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Spinster

22
23

Nelson Avenue
St. Andrews

22 years
23 years

Church

88/972

9 May 1888

Rev. D. J. Dudley

No	242
Date of Notice	9 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Adolphus Tuke	Gertrude Elmshagen
BDM Match (76%)	Percy Adolphus Vaile	Gertrude Elmsly
	💍 1888/999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Spinster
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson Avenue	St. Andrews
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	88/972
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Dudley

243

12 May 1888

Philip Augustus Johnston
Ada Louisa Hancock

Philip Augustus Edmiston
Ada Louisa Hancock
💍 1888/101

Bachelor
Widow

Insurance Manager
Widow

28
28

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
10 years

Church

88/918

12 May 1888

Rev. W. Tebbs

No	243
Date of Notice	12 May 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Augustus Johnston	Ada Louisa Hancock
BDM Match (92%)	Philip Augustus Edmiston	Ada Louisa Hancock
	💍 1888/101
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Insurance Manager	Widow
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church
Folio	88/918
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tebbs

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).