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 053

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

2 February 1888

Jim Gerrard Fraser
Margaret Meldrum

John Gerrard Fraser
Margaret Nieldrum
💍 1888/367

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

49
49

Gisborne
Auckland

6 mos
15 yrs

Gisborne Registrar Office

88/152

2 February 1888

J. Owen Lord, Regr

No	73
Date of Notice	2 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jim Gerrard Fraser	Margaret Meldrum
BDM Match (86%)	John Gerrard Fraser	Margaret Nieldrum
	💍 1888/367
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	49	49
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 mos	15 yrs
Marriage Place	Gisborne Registrar Office
Folio	88/152
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Regr

2 February 1888

James Alexander Matthews
Jessie Sanders

James Alexander de Touffreville Haultain
Jessie Sanders
💍 1888/270

Bachelor
Spinster

29
24

Union Street
Lorne Street

12 mos

Union Street Church

88/46

2 February 1888

Rev. M. Tebbs, Ch of England

No	74
Date of Notice	2 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Matthews	Jessie Sanders
BDM Match (71%)	James Alexander de Touffreville Haultain	Jessie Sanders
	💍 1888/270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Union Street	Lorne Street
Length of Residence	12 mos
Marriage Place	Union Street Church
Folio	88/46
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Tebbs, Ch of England

2 February 1888

Edward Charles Herbert Matthews
Fanny Winnerton Cowell

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

25
21

Union Street
Auckland

9 mos
5 yrs

Union Street Church (No Manial)

2 February 1888

Rev. M. Tebbs, Ch of England

No	75
Date of Notice	2 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Herbert Matthews	Fanny Winnerton Cowell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Union Street	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 mos	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Union Street Church (No Manial)
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Tebbs, Ch of England

2 February 1888

Edward Thomas Kilgour
Jane Milne

Edward Thomas Killgour
Jane Milne
💍 1888/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

25
18

Cornwallis
Mill Valley

13 yrs
2 yrs

Registrar Office

88/153

Alexander Milne, father

2 February 1888

J. Owen Lord, Regr

No	76
Date of Notice	2 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Kilgour	Jane Milne
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Thomas Killgour	Jane Milne
	💍 1888/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Cornwallis	Mill Valley
Length of Residence	13 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar Office
Folio	88/153
Consent	Alexander Milne, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Regr

3 February 1888

Arthur Ruston Halliday
Annie O'Connell

Arthur Auston Haliday
Annie Hariet Nurse
💍 1888/296

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
21

Avondale
Epsom

7 yrs
4 yrs

St. Lukes Church

88/122

3 February 1888

Rev. W. Thorne, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	3 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ruston Halliday	Annie O'Connell
BDM Match (62%)	Arthur Auston Haliday	Annie Hariet Nurse
	💍 1888/296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Avondale	Epsom
Length of Residence	7 yrs	4 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church
Folio	88/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Thorne, Presbyterian

6 February 1888

Charles Edgar Fisher
Ellen Louisa Harris

Charles Edgar Carter
Ellen Louisa Harris
💍 1888/300

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
19

Grey Street
Ponsonby

6 yrs
4 yrs

Dwelling of Mrs Elizabeth Mary Harris

88/103

Elizabeth Mary Harris, mother

6 February 1888

Rev. Geo. Purchas, Wesleyan

No	78
Date of Notice	6 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edgar Fisher	Ellen Louisa Harris
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Edgar Carter	Ellen Louisa Harris
	💍 1888/300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Grey Street	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	6 yrs	4 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Elizabeth Mary Harris
Folio	88/103
Consent	Elizabeth Mary Harris, mother
Date of Certificate	6 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Purchas, Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).