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 125

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar J. Stowe Beattie

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

219

12 January 1888

Frederick William Miers
Elizabeth Jane James

Frederick William Miers
Elizabeth Jane James
💍 1888/1149

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Feilding
Feilding

4 years
10 years

Church of England, Feilding

88/854

Thos. P. James (father)

12 January 1888

Rev. Arthur Hermon (Church of England)

No	219
Date of Notice	12 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Miers	Elizabeth Jane James
	💍 1888/1149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Feilding
Folio	88/854
Consent	Thos. P. James (father)
Date of Certificate	12 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Hermon (Church of England)

220

25 January 1888

James Eugene Hugh
Sarah Bland Bartholomew

James Eugene Hugh
Sarah Island Bartholomew
💍 1888/470

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

36
24

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
4 years

House occupied by John Bartholomew, Kimbolton Road, Feilding

88/249

25 January 1888

Rev. Hugh Orr, Minister (Presbyterian)

No	220
Date of Notice	25 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Eugene Hugh	Sarah Bland Bartholomew
BDM Match (96%)	James Eugene Hugh	Sarah Island Bartholomew
	💍 1888/470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	House occupied by John Bartholomew, Kimbolton Road, Feilding
Folio	88/249
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hugh Orr, Minister (Presbyterian)

221

1 February 1888

Edward Foden Blake
Grace Eliza Bray

Edward Foden
Grace Eliza Bray
💍 1888/1150

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
19

Feilding
Feilding

4 days
12 years

Church of England, Feilding

88/855

Chas. Bray (father)

1 February 1888

Rev. Arthur Hermon (Church of England)

No	221
Date of Notice	1 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Foden Blake	Grace Eliza Bray
BDM Match (83%)	Edward Foden	Grace Eliza Bray
	💍 1888/1150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Feilding
Folio	88/855
Consent	Chas. Bray (father)
Date of Certificate	1 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Hermon (Church of England)

222

23 February 1888

Samuel Strawbridge
Margaret Brown

Samuel Strawbridge
Margaret Brown
💍 1888/21

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
27

Makino Road
Makino Road

6 years
2 years

House occupied by John Brown, Makino Road

88/250

23 February 1888

Rev. John Olphert (Primitive Methodist)

No	222
Date of Notice	23 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Strawbridge	Margaret Brown
	💍 1888/21
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Makino Road	Makino Road
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House occupied by John Brown, Makino Road
Folio	88/250
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Olphert (Primitive Methodist)

223

29 February 1888

George Johnson
Sarah Jane Foster

George Johanson
Sarah Jane Foster
💍 1888/23

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

22
22

Feilding
Feilding

14 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Feilding

88/251

29 February 1888

J. Stowe Beattie, Registrar

No	223
Date of Notice	29 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Johnson	Sarah Jane Foster
BDM Match (97%)	George Johanson	Sarah Jane Foster
	💍 1888/23
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	14 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Feilding
Folio	88/251
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1888
Officiating Minister	J. Stowe Beattie, 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 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).