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 134

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
13	18 January 1888	Leonard Hill Isabella Eleanor Lewer	Leonard Hill Isabella Eleanor Lewer 💍 1888/479	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	23 27	Karori Karori	years years	House of Mr Lewer, Woolcombe Street	88/294		18 January 1888	Rev. John Moor
14	18 January 1888	Elias George Gaudin Alice Winifred Ashbridge	Elias George Gaudin Alice Winifred Astridge 💍 1888/1152	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Fountain, Molesworth Street	88/557	Harriet Fountain, mother	18 January 1888	Rev. W. H. West
15	18 January 1888	Edward Lyon Ada Tracy Beatrice Richardson	Edward Lyon Ada Mary Beatrice Richardson 💍 1888/753	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	House of Mr Pickard, Evelyn Place	88/275		18 January 1888	Rev. L. M. Isitt
16	20 January 1888	Richard Friend Sankey Frances Alice Carter	Richard Friend Sankey Frances Alice Carter 💍 1888/758	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	10 months years	House of Mr Woodhouse, Annie Street, Kent Terrace	88/261		20 January 1888	Rev. J. K. Elliott
17	21 January 1888	Henry Mallows Elizabeth Edith Webb	Henry Mallowes Elizabeth Edith Webb 💍 1888/493	Bachelor Spinster	Express Driver	20 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	88/307	Charles Mallows, father; John Webb, father	21 January 1888	W. T. Wyatt
18	21 January 1888	Thomas McEwan Lucia Smith	Thomas McEwan Lucia Smith 💍 1888/770	Widower Spinster	Pastrycook	40 19	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks years	St. John's Church, Willis Street	88/269	Jane Naylor, mother	21 January 1888	Rev. James Paterson
19	21 January 1888	William Freeman Mary Hutchison	William Freeman Mary Hutchison 💍 1888/762	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	31 16	Wellington Wellington	years years	Church of Christ, Dixon Street	88/283	Catherine Hutchison, mother	21 January 1888	Mr. Edward Lewis
20	24 January 1888	William Mann Mary Robinson	William Mann Mary Robinson 💍 1888/494	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	88/308		24 January 1888	W. T. Wyatt
21	25 January 1888	Daniel Soley Ellen Connor	Daniel Foley Ellen Connor 💍 1888/444	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	46 40	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	88/334		25 January 1888	Rev. P. Kerrigan
22	25 January 1888	John Christoff Martin Karsten Annie Permain	John Christoff Martin Kaesten Annie Permain 💍 1888/3404	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	28 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 5 days	St. Mark's Church	88/262		25 January 1888	Rev. R. Coffey
23	27 January 1888	Sydney George Oliver Ingram Annie Cecilia Valentine	Sydney George Oliver Ingram Annie Cecilia Valentine 💍 1888/500	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	88/291		27 January 1888	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
24	30 January 1888	William Robert Leighton Emily Hodder	William Robert Leighton Emily Hodder 💍 1888/1154	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	23 22	Petone Wellington	1 year 2 weeks	House of Mr Leighton, Tinakori Road	88/558		30 January 1888	Rev. W. H. West

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).