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 304

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

23 January 1888

William Kerr Richardson
Isabella Gray

William Kerr Richardson
Isobella Gray
💍 1888/859

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

32 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
3 years

In the house of Thomas Lowlay

88/702

23 January 1888

Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	29
Date of Notice	23 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kerr Richardson	Isabella Gray
BDM Match (96%)	William Kerr Richardson	Isobella Gray
	💍 1888/859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Lowlay
Folio	88/702
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

24 January 1888

Frederick Alfred Hancock
Fanny White

Frederick Alfred Hancock
Fanny White
💍 1888/811

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

22 years
23 years

Kensington
Kensington

5 years
8 years

In the house of William Muir White

88/654

24 January 1888

Revd. W. G. Parsonson, Wesleyan Minister

No	30
Date of Notice	24 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Alfred Hancock	Fanny White
	💍 1888/811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Kensington	Kensington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Muir White
Folio	88/654
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. G. Parsonson, Wesleyan Minister

25 January 1888

James Forrest
Euphemia Clark

James Forrest
Euphemia Clark
💍 1888/860

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31 years
24 years

Dunedin
Tokomairiro

5 weeks
21 years

In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart

88/703

25 January 1888

Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	31
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forrest	Euphemia Clark
	💍 1888/860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	5 weeks	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart
Folio	88/703
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

25 January 1888

William Gray McKenzie
Margaret Ferguson

William Gray McKenzie
Margaret Ferguson
💍 1888/114

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Mill Worker

21 years
20 years

Kaikorai
Kaikorai

3 years
8 years

In the house of John Ferguson

88/880

John Ferguson, father of Minor

25 January 1888

Revd. R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian Minister

No	32
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gray McKenzie	Margaret Ferguson
	💍 1888/114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Mill Worker
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Kaikorai	Kaikorai
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Ferguson
Folio	88/880
Consent	John Ferguson, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. R. R. M. Sutherland, Presbyterian Minister

25 January 1888

Robert Nye
Betsy McMaster

Robert Nye
Betsy McMaster
💍 1888/903

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24 years
25 years

Green Island
Green Island

9 months
25 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/750

25 January 1888

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	33
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Nye	Betsy McMaster
	💍 1888/903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Green Island
Length of Residence	9 months	25 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/750
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

25 January 1888

Thomas Carroll
Christina Buchanan Robertson

Thomas Carroll
Christina Buchanan Robertson
💍 1888/905

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

33 years
26 years

Mornington
Mornington

14 years
3 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/751

25 January 1888

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	34
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Carroll	Christina Buchanan Robertson
	💍 1888/905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/751
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

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).