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 174

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar S. L. Lago

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

11 February 1888

Sidney West
Bella Portland

Sidney West
Bella Portland
💍 1888/541

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard
Domestic

22
22

Napier
Napier

4 years
4 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

88/381

11 February 1888

S. L. Lago Registrar Napier

No	14
Date of Notice	11 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney West	Bella Portland
	💍 1888/541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	88/381
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1888
Officiating Minister	S. L. Lago Registrar Napier

13 February 1888

Jeremiah Downey
Margaret In Grogan

Jeremiah Downey
Margaret McGrogan
💍 1888/530

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
House-Maid

22
27

Napier
Napier

6 days
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel Napier

88/371

13 February 1888

Rev Father Grogan Roman Catholic Priest Napier

No	15
Date of Notice	13 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Downey	Margaret In Grogan
BDM Match (92%)	Jeremiah Downey	Margaret McGrogan
	💍 1888/530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	House-Maid
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel Napier
Folio	88/371
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Grogan Roman Catholic Priest Napier

14 February 1888

John Wentworth Raffills
Annie Maria Terrill

John Wentworth Paffills
Annie Maria Terrill
💍 1888/550

Bachelor
Spinster

Hair-Dresser

22
17

Napier
Napier

9 months
1 year

St John's Church Napier

88/367

Phillipa Terrill Mother

14 February 1888

Rev De Berdt Hovell - Church of England - Napier

No	16
Date of Notice	14 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wentworth Raffills	Annie Maria Terrill
BDM Match (98%)	John Wentworth Paffills	Annie Maria Terrill
	💍 1888/550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hair-Dresser
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St John's Church Napier
Folio	88/367
Consent	Phillipa Terrill Mother
Date of Certificate	14 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev De Berdt Hovell - Church of England - Napier

16 February 1888

Hatkin Thomas
Henry Ann Butler

Watkin Thomas
Mary Ann Butter
💍 1888/551

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic

36
33

Napier
Napier

16 years
15 years

St John's Church

88/368

16 February 1888

Rev De Berdt Hovell Church of England Napier

No	17
Date of Notice	16 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hatkin Thomas	Henry Ann Butler
BDM Match (84%)	Watkin Thomas	Mary Ann Butter
	💍 1888/551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church
Folio	88/368
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev De Berdt Hovell Church of England Napier

22 February 1888

Neils Frederik Benhardt Nielsen
Clara Blahr

Neils Frederik Bernhardt Nielsen
Clara Blahr
💍 1888/542

Bachelor
Spinster

Scullery-man
Domestic

23
28

Napier
Napier

8 months
15 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier

88/382

22 February 1888

S. L. Lago Registrar Napier

No	18
Date of Notice	22 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neils Frederik Benhardt Nielsen	Clara Blahr
BDM Match (98%)	Neils Frederik Bernhardt Nielsen	Clara Blahr
	💍 1888/542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Scullery-man	Domestic
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	88/382
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1888
Officiating Minister	S. L. Lago Registrar Napier

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).