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 051

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar John Owen 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

28 January 1888

Edward Clinton Vernon Nowbray
Eliza Ann Wadham

Edward Stenson Vernon Mowbray
Eliza Ann Wadham
💍 1888/318

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
21

Anglesea Street
Pitt Street

4 years
21 years

Dwelling of Mr. Louisa Wadham

88/77

28 January 1888

Rev. J. Chew, Cong. Independent

No	61
Date of Notice	28 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Clinton Vernon Nowbray	Eliza Ann Wadham
BDM Match (91%)	Edward Stenson Vernon Mowbray	Eliza Ann Wadham
	💍 1888/318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Anglesea Street	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Louisa Wadham
Folio	88/77
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Chew, Cong. Independent

31 January 1888

Henry Dell
Eliza Jane Dilworth

Henry Dell
Eliza Jane Dilworth
💍 1888/280

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
20

Pukekohe
Auckland

2 years
18 months

Holy Trinity Church

88/33

31 January 1888

Rev. C. E. Jones, Ch. of England

No	62
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dell	Eliza Jane Dilworth
	💍 1888/280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio	88/33
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Jones, Ch. of England

31 January 1888

Michael Divined
Ellen Monaghan

Michael Hines
Esther Monaghan
💍 1888/3400

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

30
31

Grey Street
Pitt Street

8 months
3 years

St. Benedict's Church

88/56

31 January 1888

Rev. C. E. O'Hara, R. Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Divined	Ellen Monaghan
BDM Match (73%)	Michael Hines	Esther Monaghan
	💍 1888/3400
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Grey Street	Pitt Street
Length of Residence	8 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	88/56
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. O'Hara, R. Catholic

31 January 1888

Moses Heal
Marian Bentley

Moses Neal
Mariane Bentley
💍 1888/267

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Regent Street
Newton

2 years
15 years

St. Matthews Church

88/44

Mr. Bentley, father

31 January 1888

Rev. W. Tebbs, Ch. of England

No	64
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moses Heal	Marian Bentley
BDM Match (92%)	Moses Neal	Mariane Bentley
	💍 1888/267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Regent Street	Newton
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	88/44
Consent	Mr. Bentley, father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tebbs, Ch. of England

31 January 1888

Isaac Davis
Laura Phillis

Isaac Barris
Laura Phillis Blankhorn
💍 1888/347

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

24
21

Graham Street
Graham Street

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

88/49

31 January 1888

J. Owen Lord, Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Davis	Laura Phillis
BDM Match (66%)	Isaac Barris	Laura Phillis Blankhorn
	💍 1888/347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Graham Street	Graham Street
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	88/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Registrar

31 January 1888

Peter Henry Woodall
Esther Hall

Peter Henry Wood
Esther Hart
💍 1888/287

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

22
22

Fitzroy Street
Vincent Street

19 years
12 years

Dwelling of Samuel Solomon

88/114

31 January 1888

Rev. C. Goldstein, Jewish Rabbi

No	66
Date of Notice	31 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Henry Woodall	Esther Hall
BDM Match (83%)	Peter Henry Wood	Esther Hart
	💍 1888/287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Fitzroy Street	Vincent Street
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Samuel Solomon
Folio	88/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Goldstein, Jewish Rabbi

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).