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 066

District of Auckland Quarter ending 21 March 1888 Registrar Jowen Lord

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

151

26 March 1888

Arthur Philip Bullock
Grace Berryman Cooper

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

22
19

Ponsonby
Small Island

2 years
15 months

Registrar's Office

88/175

June Bullock, father

26 March 1888

Jowen Lord Regr

No	151
Date of Notice	26 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Philip Bullock	Grace Berryman Cooper
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Small Island
Length of Residence	2 years	15 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	88/175
Consent	June Bullock, father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Jowen Lord Regr

152

26 March 1888

Joseph Reed Batchelor
Mary McLean

Joseph Reed
Mary McLean
💍 1888/286

Bachelor
Spinster

Lighterman

25
25

Ponsonby
Auckland

7 years
7 years

The Tabernacle, Auckland

88/113

Mary McLean, father

26 March 1888

Rev. T. Spurgeon, Baptist

No	152
Date of Notice	26 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Reed Batchelor	Mary McLean
BDM Match (76%)	Joseph Reed	Mary McLean
	💍 1888/286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lighterman
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Tabernacle, Auckland
Folio	88/113
Consent	Mary McLean, father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Spurgeon, Baptist

153

27 March 1888

Henry George Batchelor
Esther Edwards Payne

Henry George Payne
Esther Edwardes
💍 1888/1052

Bachelor
Widow

Watchmaker

46
33

Ponsonby
Ponsonby

23 years
18 years

All Saints Church

88/1003

Esther Edwards, father

27 March 1888

Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

No	153
Date of Notice	27 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Batchelor	Esther Edwards Payne
BDM Match (67%)	Henry George Payne	Esther Edwardes
	💍 1888/1052
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	88/1003
Consent	Esther Edwards, father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Calder, Ch. of England

154

27 March 1888

William Mills
Mary Jane Tucker

William Mills
Mary Jane Tucker
💍 1888/263

Widower
Widow

Mill Hand

43
33

Parnell
Parnell

4 years
12 years

Dwelling of William Mills, Parnell

88/92

Mary Jane Tucker, mother

27 March 1888

Rev. R. Davis, Wesleyan

No	154
Date of Notice	27 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mills	Mary Jane Tucker
	💍 1888/263
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Mills, Parnell
Folio	88/92
Consent	Mary Jane Tucker, mother
Date of Certificate	27 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Davis, Wesleyan

155

27 March 1888

Henry Lowe Batchelor
Sarah Goodwin Bernard Frederick Williams

Bachelor
Spinster

Candle Moulder

22
21

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

4 years
21 years

Dwelling of Frederick Williams, Otahuhu

88/176

Sarah Goodwin, mother

27 March 1888

Jowen Lord Regr

No	155
Date of Notice	27 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lowe Batchelor	Sarah Goodwin Bernard Frederick Williams
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Candle Moulder
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Frederick Williams, Otahuhu
Folio	88/176
Consent	Sarah Goodwin, mother
Date of Certificate	27 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Jowen Lord Regr

156

27 March 1888

Ham
alias Ropata
Selina Phillips

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

41
24

Mangonui
Ponsonby

7 years
12 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

88/176

Selina Phillips, mother

27 March 1888

Jowen Lord Regr

No	156
Date of Notice	27 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ham alias Ropata	Selina Phillips
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	24
Dwelling Place	Mangonui	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	88/176
Consent	Selina Phillips, mother
Date of Certificate	27 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Jowen Lord Regr

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).