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 139

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
73	19 March 1888	Patrick Brennan Margaret Dougherty	Patrick Bresnan Margaret Doherty 💍 1888/1260 Patrick Brosnahan Margaret Horgan 💍 1888/1670 Patrick Derig Margaret Enright 💍 1888/529	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 27	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	St. Marys Cathedral	88/1193		19 March 1888	Rev. J. McNamara
74	20 March 1888	Herbert Baillie Emilie Booth	Herbert Baillee Emilie Booth 💍 1888/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	88/1204		20 March 1888	Venble Archdeacon Stock
75	21 March 1888	William Redmon Glover Margaret Ellen Lewis	William Redman Glover Margaret Ellen Lewis 💍 1888/763	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 20	Wellington Wellington	5 months 5 months	House of Mr. Lewis Abel Smith Street	88/1284	Edward Lewis, father	21 March 1888	Mr. Edward Lewis
76	22 March 1888	Frederick Wallis Bell Blanche Petherick	Frederick Wallis Bell Blanche Petherick 💍 1888/434	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	9 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	88/324		22 March 1888	W. T. Wyatt
77	22 March 1888	William Henry Corneal Ada Kelly	William Henry Corneal Ada Kelly 💍 1888/3647	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	24 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	88/325	Isabella Kelly, mother	22 March 1888	W. T. Wyatt
78	22 March 1888	John Nicol Ellen Collins	John Nicol Ellen Collins 💍 1888/22	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Baptist Church Vivian Street	88/259		22 March 1888	Rev. H. H. Driver
79	23 March 1888	Allan Waldin May Sutherland	Allan Waldin May Sutherland 💍 1888/435	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	88/326		23 March 1888	W. T. Wyatt
80	24 March 1888	William Renton Lizzie Stone	William Renton Lizzie Moore 💍 1888/436	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	88/327		24 March 1888	W. T. Wyatt
81	26 March 1888	Charles Blackman Walsh Phoebe Ann Ruck	Charles Blackmore Walsh Phoebe Ann Ruck 💍 1888/501	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	88/292		26 March 1888	Venble Archdeacon Stock
82	26 March 1888	William Anderson Jane Davidson	William Anderson Jane Davidson 💍 1888/120 William Robert Johnson Johanna Davidson 💍 1888/1949	Bachelor Spinster	Pattern maker	25 27	Wellington Wellington	8 months 3 months	House of Mr. Peny Kent Terrace	88/885		26 March 1888	Rev. E. D. Cecil
83	26 March 1888	Daniel Joslin Mary Ann Fulter	Daniel Joslin Mary Ann Futter 💍 1888/1157	Widower Widow	Printer	42 41	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Andrews Church	88/861		26 March 1888	Rev. C. I. Ogg
84	27 March 1888	Edward James Hughes Honora Mary Beech	Edward James Hughes Mary Honora Beech 💍 1888/1258	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22	Ohariu Ohariu	5 days years	Roman Catholic Church Ohariu	88/1191		27 March 1888	Rev. J. McNamara

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).