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 171

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar S. A. Iago

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

3 January 1888

John Gray
Fanny Louisa Bowsfield

John Gray
Fanny Louisa Bowsfield
💍 1888/537

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

38
20

Wellington
Gisborne

5 months
9 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

88/378

Anne Bowsfield

3 January 1888

S. A. Iago, Registrar, Napier

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gray	Fanny Louisa Bowsfield
	💍 1888/537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 months	9 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	88/378
Consent	Anne Bowsfield
Date of Certificate	3 January 1888
Officiating Minister	S. A. Iago, Registrar, Napier

4 January 1888

Matthew Hall Gilbert
Eliza Harriet Gruchy

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

36
23

Wairwaiti
Napier

7 years
12 years

St John's Church, Napier

88/366

4 January 1888

Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England, Napier

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hall Gilbert	Eliza Harriet Gruchy
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Wairwaiti	Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Napier
Folio	88/366
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England, Napier

7 January 1888

Patrick Denig
Margaret Enright

Patrick Derig
Margaret Enright
💍 1888/529

Bachelor
Widow

Shoemaker
Laundress

34
29

Napier
Napier

2 weeks
8 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

88/370

7 January 1888

Rev. Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest, Napier

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Denig	Margaret Enright
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Derig	Margaret Enright
	💍 1888/529
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker	Laundress
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 weeks	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	88/370
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest, Napier

14 January 1888

Henry Mitchell
Elizabeth Airey Richardson

Harry William Mitchell
Elizabeth Airey Richardson
💍 1888/538

Bachelor
Spinster

driver

23
19

Petane
Petane

1 year
8 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

88/379

Wm Airey

14 January 1888

S. A. Iago, Registrar, Napier

No	4
Date of Notice	14 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mitchell	Elizabeth Airey Richardson
BDM Match (77%)	Harry William Mitchell	Elizabeth Airey Richardson
	💍 1888/538
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	driver
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Petane	Petane
Length of Residence	1 year	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	88/379
Consent	Wm Airey
Date of Certificate	14 January 1888
Officiating Minister	S. A. Iago, Registrar, Napier

16 January 1888

James Davidson Burnett
Elizabeth McPherson

James Davidson Burnett
Elizabeth McPherson
💍 1888/535

Bachelor
Spinster

contractor

37
21

Clive
Clive

2 years
21 years

Residence of the Bride's Father at Clive

88/376

16 January 1888

Rev R. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister, Ahuriri Hastings

No	5
Date of Notice	16 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Davidson Burnett	Elizabeth McPherson
	💍 1888/535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	contractor
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride's Father at Clive
Folio	88/376
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister, Ahuriri Hastings

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).