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 136

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1888

No	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
37	6 February 1888	Harold Edwin Scott Lilla Hawkins	Harold Edwin Scott Lillia Hawkins 💍 1888/749	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of the Revd G. Paterson	88/271		6 February 1888	Rev. G. Paterson
38	6 February 1888	Harold John Brooks Caroline Julia Hale	Harold John Brooke Caroline Julia Hales 💍 1888/765	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	88/264	Edward Hale, Father	6 February 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
39	6 February 1888	Northend Isaac Gooder Catherine Suit	Northend Isaac Gooder Catherine Tait 💍 1888/1155	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Andrews Church	88/859		6 February 1888	Rev. C. I. Ogg
40	6 February 1888	John Henry Furness Martha Ann Tonks	John Henry Furness Martha Ann Tonks 💍 1888/446	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/312	George Ingram Tonks, father	6 February 1888	W. I. Wyall
41	7 February 1888	Hugh Pollen Frances Anna Maria Porter	Hugh Pollen Frances Anna Maria Porter 💍 1888/28	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	37 28	Wellington Karori	years years	St. Marys Church, Karori	88/256		7 February 1888	Rev. A. H. Hasent
42	7 February 1888	James David Stodart Clara Maria Weller	James David Stoddart Clara Maud Willcox 💍 1888/756	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Jamieson, Taranaki Road	88/278		7 February 1888	Rev. L. M. Isitt
43	8 February 1888	John Augustus Petherick Junior Amy Annie Laing	John Augustus Petherick Amy Annie Laing 💍 1888/755	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 20	Wellington Wellington	6 months 5 days	House of Mr. Petherick, Abel Smith Street	88/277	Robert Laing, Father	8 February 1888	Rev. L. M. Isitt
44	10 February 1888	George Charles Summerell Lizzie Todd	George Charles Summerill Lizzie Todd 💍 1888/757	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	23 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	88/279		10 February 1888	Rev. L. M. Isitt
45	11 February 1888	William John Dawson Emily Clara Gunther	William John Dawson Emily Clara Gunther 💍 1888/30	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 25	Wellington Wellington	16 months 11 months	House of Mr. Munro, Pipitea Point	88/258		11 February 1888	Rev. W. H. Driver
46	11 February 1888	Robert James Foulkes Emily Neill	Robert James Foulkes Emily Neill 💍 1888/447	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/313		11 February 1888	W. I. Wyall
47	14 February 1888	Edwin Douglas Seldon Buck Janet Ann Ford	Edwin Douglas Seldon Buck Janet Ann Fox 💍 1888/768	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 22	Taita Petone	years 6 weeks	Christ Church, Taita	88/267		14 February 1888	Rev. Joshua Jones
48	16 February 1888	Joseph Nicoll Margaret Maude Garner	Joseph Nicoll Margaret Maude Garner 💍 1888/448	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	32 26	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/314		16 February 1888	W. I. Wyall

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).