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 218

District of Greymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar W. A. Barlow

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

12 March 1888

William James Le Huray
Ruth Moore

William James Le Huray
Ruth Moore
💍 1888/598

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
None

48 years
48 years

Walesend
Walesend

16 years
20 years

at the residence of Ruth Moore, Wallsend

88/440

12 March 1888

The Rev. I. W. York, Church of England minister

No	8
Date of Notice	12 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Le Huray	Ruth Moore
	💍 1888/598
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	48 years	48 years
Dwelling Place	Walesend	Walesend
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Ruth Moore, Wallsend
Folio	88/440
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. I. W. York, Church of England minister

15 March 1888

Francis Claxton
Eliza Barker

Francis Claxton
Eliza Carter
💍 1888/583

Bachelor
Widow

Hawker
Dressmaker

50 years
46 years

Brunnerton
Brunnerton

5 years
2 months

at Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/449

15 March 1888

W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	9
Date of Notice	15 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Claxton	Eliza Barker
BDM Match (92%)	Francis Claxton	Eliza Carter
	💍 1888/583
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Hawker	Dressmaker
Age	50 years	46 years
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Brunnerton
Length of Residence	5 years	2 months
Marriage Place	at Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/449
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1888
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

22 March 1888

James Goodall
Margaret Ann Hammon

James Goodall
Margaret Ann Fitzsimmons
💍 1888/584

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

25 years
25 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

9 months
9 months

at Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

88/450

22 March 1888

W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

No	10
Date of Notice	22 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Goodall	Margaret Ann Hammon
BDM Match (85%)	James Goodall	Margaret Ann Fitzsimmons
	💍 1888/584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	at Office of Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth
Folio	88/450
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1888
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Greymouth

24 March 1888

James Edward Scott
Alice Greening

James Edward Scott
Alice Greening
💍 1888/579

Bachelor
Spinster

Wacker
None

25 years
24 years

Greymouth
Greymouth

3 months
3 months

at the residence of the said James Edward Scott, situate in Boundary Street, Greymouth

88/445

24 March 1888

The Rev. R. B. Maclean, Church of England minister

No	11
Date of Notice	24 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Scott	Alice Greening
	💍 1888/579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wacker	None
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	at the residence of the said James Edward Scott, situate in Boundary Street, Greymouth
Folio	88/445
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. B. Maclean, Church of England minister

29 March 1888

Charles Ferguson
Mary Elizabeth Harvey

Charles Ferguson
Mary Elizabeth Harvey
💍 1888/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal miner
None

27 years
27 years

Brunnerton
Greymouth

3 months
16 months

at the residence of Lydia Collins, situate in Mackay Street, Greymouth

88/446

29 March 1888

The Rev. R. D. Westbrook, Presbyterian minister

No	12
Date of Notice	29 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ferguson	Mary Elizabeth Harvey
	💍 1888/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal miner	None
Age	27 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton	Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 months	16 months
Marriage Place	at the residence of Lydia Collins, situate in Mackay Street, Greymouth
Folio	88/446
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1888
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. D. Westbrook, 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).