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 135

District of Wellington 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
25	30 January 1888	Henry Joseph Haliday Elizabeth Keetley	Henry Joseph Haliday Elizabeth Kestley 💍 1888/499	Widower Spinster	Saddler	27 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peter's Church	88/290		30 January 1888	Ven. Archdeacon Stock
26	30 January 1888	John Webb Lydia Warren	John Webb Lydia Warren 💍 1888/480	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	Wesleyan Church	88/295		30 January 1888	Revd. Ramsford Bain
27	31 January 1888	Benjamin O'Brien Elizabeth McDonough	Benjamin O'Brien Elizabeth McDonough 💍 1888/443	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary of the Angels	88/333		31 January 1888	Revd. P. Kerrigan
28	1 February 1888	James Alexander Harvey Mary Stickey	James Alexander Harvey Mary Hickey 💍 1888/503	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	26 24	Wellington Wellington	12 months 10 months	St Mary of the Angels	88/336		1 February 1888	Revd. P. Kerrigan
29	1 February 1888	Michael Digan Hannah Donnelly	Michael Digan Hannah Donnelly 💍 1888/445	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 22	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	St Mary of the Angels	88/335		1 February 1888	Revd. P. Kerrigan
30	1 February 1888	John Martin Ellen Scott Philpott	John Martin Ellen Scott Philpott 💍 1888/495	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/309		1 February 1888	Mr. W. Wyatt
31	3 February 1888	William Graham Jackson Marion Elizabeth Nicholson	William Graham Jackson Marion Elizabeth Nicholson 💍 1888/748	Divorced Spinster	Merchant	43 25	Wellington Karori	years years	House of the Revd. J. Paterson	88/270		3 February 1888	Revd. J. Paterson
32	3 February 1888	Archibald McAllister Catherine Moriarty	Archibald McAllister Catherine Moriarty 💍 1888/428	Widower Spinster	Engine Driver	35 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/310		3 February 1888	Mr. W. Wyatt
33	3 February 1888	William Hornby Frances Kennaugh	William Hornby Frances Kennaugh 💍 1888/764	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	29 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	88/263		3 February 1888	Revd. R. Coffey
34	4 February 1888	Frederick Augustus Hogg Mary Anne Hogg	Frederick Augustus Moore Mary Anne Hogg 💍 1888/766	Bachelor Spinster	Artilleryman	28 18	Wellington Kaiwarra	years years	St Marks Church	88/265	Thomas Hogg, Father	4 February 1888	Revd. R. Coffey
35	4 February 1888	John Llewellyn Agnes Chiswell	John Llewellyn Agnes Chiswell 💍 1888/502	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	26 36	Porirua Wellington	4 months 5 weeks	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street	88/293		4 February 1888	Revd. W. G. Potter
36	6 February 1888	Alexander Johnston Nellie Rowe	Alexander Johnston Nellie Rowe 💍 1888/439	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 week	Registrars Office, Wellington	88/311		6 February 1888	Mr. W. Wyatt

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).