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 057

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

19 February 1888

Randolph Phillips
Florence Emma Rayner

Randolph Whitehouse Mountfort
Florence Emma Payne
💍 1888/271

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

26
21

Ponsonby
Ponsonby

5 years
19 years

St Matthews Church

88/47

18 February 1888

Rev W Tebbs, Ch of England

No	97
Date of Notice	19 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randolph Phillips	Florence Emma Rayner
BDM Match (66%)	Randolph Whitehouse Mountfort	Florence Emma Payne
	💍 1888/271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church
Folio	88/47
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev W Tebbs, Ch of England

19 February 1888

Cecil Rider
Margaret Alice Maitland

Cecil Rider
Margaret Alice Maitland
💍 1888/216

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

20
17

Victoria Street
Victoria Street

3 years
17 years

George Smith

88/68

Maitland March, Mother

5 March 1888

Rev J Mackendrick, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	19 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Rider	Margaret Alice Maitland
	💍 1888/216
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Victoria Street	Victoria Street
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	George Smith
Folio	88/68
Consent	Maitland March, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev J Mackendrick, Presbyterian

22 February 1888

Frederick Thomas Wright
Martha Lee

Frederick Thomas Wright
Martha Lee
💍 1888/303

Bachelor
Spinster

Meter Inspector

28
26

Cook Street
Hepburn Street

12 years
26 years

Epiphany Church

88/106

22 February 1888

Rev J Gallagher, Ch of England

No	99
Date of Notice	22 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Thomas Wright	Martha Lee
	💍 1888/303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meter Inspector
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Cook Street	Hepburn Street
Length of Residence	12 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Epiphany Church
Folio	88/106
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev J Gallagher, Ch of England

100

23 February 1888

James Ryan
Elizabeth T Shoff

James Ryan
Elizabeth Tolhopf
💍 1888/229

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

23
21

Rokeby Street
Rokeby Street

12 years
7 years

St Benedicts Church

88/58

23 February 1888

Rev A E O'Hara, R Catholic

No	100
Date of Notice	23 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ryan	Elizabeth T Shoff
BDM Match (91%)	James Ryan	Elizabeth Tolhopf
	💍 1888/229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Rokeby Street	Rokeby Street
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Benedicts Church
Folio	88/58
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev A E O'Hara, R Catholic

101

23 February 1888

George Austen
Elizabeth Nolan

George Austen
Elizabeth Nolan
💍 1888/358

Bachelor
Spinster

Gum Packer

23
19

Grey Street
Freemans Bay

10 years
19 years

Registrars Office

88/62

Martin Nolan, Guardian

23 February 1888

J Owen Lord, Regr

No	101
Date of Notice	23 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Austen	Elizabeth Nolan
	💍 1888/358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gum Packer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Grey Street	Freemans Bay
Length of Residence	10 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	88/62
Consent	Martin Nolan, Guardian
Date of Certificate	23 February 1888
Officiating Minister	J Owen Lord, Regr

102

25 February 1888

George Morrison
Sophia Louise Williams

George Morison
Sophia Louise Williams
💍 1888/323

George Henry Scoles
Sophia C Williams
💍 1888/2820

Widower
Widow

Clerk at Docks

49
37

Waterloo Quadrant
Waterloo Quadrant

15 months
3 years

Dwelling house of Sophia Williams

88/99

25 February 1888

Rev A Carrick, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	25 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Morrison	Sophia Louise Williams
BDM Match (97%)	George Morison	Sophia Louise Williams
	💍 1888/323
BDM Match (60%)	George Henry Scoles	Sophia C Williams
	💍 1888/2820
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Clerk at Docks
Age	49	37
Dwelling Place	Waterloo Quadrant	Waterloo Quadrant
Length of Residence	15 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Sophia Williams
Folio	88/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev A Carrick, Presbyterian

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).