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 314

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar A. R. 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

7 March 1888

John Augustus Goldring
Emma Louisa East

John Augustus Golding
Emma Louisa Gast
💍 1888/881

Bachelor
Spinster

Waiter
Tailoress

26 years
20 years

Dunedin
Caversham

18 months
3 years

In Knox Church

88/726

Thomas Baynham Smith, Guardian of minor

7 March 1888

Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	85
Date of Notice	7 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Augustus Goldring	Emma Louisa East
BDM Match (95%)	John Augustus Golding	Emma Louisa Gast
	💍 1888/881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waiter	Tailoress
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	18 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	88/726
Consent	Thomas Baynham Smith, Guardian of minor
Date of Certificate	7 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

8 March 1888

Robert Cockburn
Frances Jane Cudaille

Robert Cockburn
Francis Jane Ondaille
💍 1888/879

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

28 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church

88/725

8 March 1888

Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	86
Date of Notice	8 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cockburn	Frances Jane Cudaille
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Cockburn	Francis Jane Ondaille
	💍 1888/879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	88/725
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

9 March 1888

William Anderson Stout
Louisa Helen Strachan

William Anderson Stout
Louisa Helen Strachan
💍 1888/882

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

25 years
23 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

4 years
23 years

In the house of William Strachan, Elder Street

88/727

9 March 1888

Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	87
Date of Notice	9 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Anderson Stout	Louisa Helen Strachan
	💍 1888/882
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Strachan, Elder Street
Folio	88/727
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

9 March 1888

Richard Woolford
Amelia Mealings

Richard Woolford
Amelia Mealings
💍 1888/76

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

37 years
33 years

Ravensbourne
Ravensbourne

2 months
5 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/761

9 March 1888

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	88
Date of Notice	9 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Woolford	Amelia Mealings
	💍 1888/76
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	37 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	2 months	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/761
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

9 March 1888

John Hicks Brown
Kate Oliver Stokes

John Hicks Brown
Kate Oliver Stokes
💍 1888/813

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22 years
21 years

Kensington
Dunedin

5 years
8 years

In the house of Thomas Oliver Stokes, Great King Street

88/656

9 March 1888

Revd W. G. Parson, Wesleyan Minister

No	89
Date of Notice	9 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hicks Brown	Kate Oliver Stokes
	💍 1888/813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Kensington	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Oliver Stokes, Great King Street
Folio	88/656
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd W. G. Parson, Wesleyan 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).