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 117

District of Wanganui 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
1	2 January 1888	Charles Novil Pemberton Margaret Avice Field	Charles Louis Pemberton Margaret Avice Field 💍 1888/458	Bachelor Spinster	farmer	28 28	Wanganui Wanganui	7 yrs 28 yrs	In the Church of England	88/238		2 January 1888	T.L. Tudor Church of England
2	2 January 1888	John Berrett Elizabeth Sarah Titter	John Berrett Elizabeth Sarah Titter 💍 1888/460	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 20	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs 6 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/239	John Titter, father	2 January 1888	A. Bissett Dept Registrar
3	7 January 1888	Joseph Leadell Elizabeth Warley	Joseph Peapell Elizabeth Wasley 💍 1888/461 Joseph Page Elizabeth Gain 💍 1889/503 Joseph Brady Elizabeth Hamilton 💍 1888/1986 Joseph Duckett Elizabeth Joyce 💍 1888/1736 Joseph Carr Elizabeth Snell 💍 1889/582 Joseph Neeson Elizabeth Neville 💍 1888/3238 Joseph Richard Paul Elizabeth Lyster 💍 1888/472 Joseph Guy Elizabeth Millner 💍 1888/2120	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 18	Wanganui Wanganui	21 yrs 9 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/240	George Warley, father	7 January 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar
4	10 January 1888	Harry Thomas Mann Isabella Rolfe	Harry Thomas Mann Isabella Rolfe 💍 1888/462	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 17	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/241	John Rolfe, father	10 January 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar
5	11 January 1888	Herbert Martin Annie Isles Myers	Herbert Martin Annie Isles Myers 💍 1888/463	Bachelor Spinster	Wood Carver	21 21	Wanganui Wanganui	7 mos 6 mos	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/243		11 January 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar
6	11 January 1888	John Wakefield Sara Roberts	John Wakefield Sara Roberts 💍 1888/465	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	35 38	Wanganui Wanganui	12 yrs 10 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/244		11 January 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar
7	20 January 1888	Edmond Stack Mary Somers	Edmond Stack Mary Somers 💍 1888/1145	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 29	Wanganui Wanganui	8 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	88/850		20 January 1888	C.H. Kirk Roman Catholic
8	24 January 1888	John Anderson Agnes Jane Hairs	John Anderson Agnes Jane Laird 💍 1888/457 John Anderson Annie Gallagher 💍 1888/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 26	Wanganui Wanganui	6 yrs 15 yrs	In the residence of John Patten, Wicksteed St, Wanganui	88/237		24 January 1888	James Trendwell Presbyterian
9	13 February 1888	Thomas O'Shannassy Elizabeth Keegan	Thomas O'Shannassey Elizabeth Keegan 💍 1888/1146	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 21	Eastown Wanganui	3 yrs 12 yrs	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	88/851		13 February 1888	C.H. Kirk Roman Catholic
10	13 February 1888	William Betsman Jane McElwain	William Bateman Jane McElwain 💍 1888/456	Bachelor Widow	farmer	35 34	Wanganui Wanganui	34 yrs 6 mos	In the residence of Mr. Edwin Britton, Hill Street, Wanganui	88/236		13 February 1888	W.J. Watkin Wesleyan
11	2 March 1888	William Garrett Adelaide Jackson	William Garrett Adelaide Jackson 💍 1888/1216	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 21	Wanganui Wanganui	6 wks 21 yrs	In the Church of England, Wanganui	88/1123		2 March 1888	P.C. Cameron Church of England
12	20 March 1888	Thomas Councell Johanna Shelley	Thomas Connell Johanna Sheehy 💍 1888/466 Thomas Quaid Johanna Mahoney 💍 1888/1573	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	37 17	Mosstown Mosstown	12 yrs 12 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/245	John Shelley, father	21 March 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar
13	29 March 1888	Alexander McCormick Maria Henrietta Doran	Alexander McCormick Maud Henrietta Doran 💍 1888/467	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	24 19	Wanganui Wanganui	6 yrs 3 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	88/246	Alex. W. Doran, father	29 March 1888	F.W. Noon Registrar

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).