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 273

District of Temuka Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar J. Arnold Mann

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

16 January 1888

George Elsom
Caroline Rose Boston

George Elsom
Caroline Rose Boston
💍 1888/785

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
18

Waitohi Temuka
Waitohi Temuka

8 years
6 years

At the residence of Rev. Mr. Thomas, Temuka

88/603

Jeremiah Boston, Father

16 January 1888

Rev. W. G. Thomas, Wesleyan

No	1
Date of Notice	16 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Elsom	Caroline Rose Boston
	💍 1888/785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Waitohi Temuka	Waitohi Temuka
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Rev. Mr. Thomas, Temuka
Folio	88/603
Consent	Jeremiah Boston, Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Thomas, Wesleyan

14 February 1888

Thomas Leonard
Emily Godium

Thomas Leonard
Emily Godwin
💍 1888/783

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

30
18

Levels Plains Temuka
Geraldine

7 years
5 months

Catholic Church

88/601

Thomas Godium, Father

14 February 1888

Rev. Henry Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	14 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leonard	Emily Godium
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Leonard	Emily Godwin
	💍 1888/783
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Levels Plains Temuka	Geraldine
Length of Residence	7 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	88/601
Consent	Thomas Godium, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bowers, Roman Catholic

25 February 1888

George Husband
Fanny Elizabeth Alden

George Husband
Fanny Elizabeth Uden
💍 1888/786

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
23

Temuka
Temuka

4 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Temuka

88/604

25 February 1888

Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	25 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Husband	Fanny Elizabeth Alden
BDM Match (95%)	George Husband	Fanny Elizabeth Uden
	💍 1888/786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	4 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Temuka
Folio	88/604
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Registrar

25 February 1888

Edward Cutter
Caroline Mendelson

Edward Cutten
Caroline Mendelson
💍 1888/787

Bachelor
Widow

Bank Clerk

25
33

Temuka
Temuka

1 year
15 years

Registrar's Office, Temuka

88/605

25 February 1888

Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	25 February 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cutter	Caroline Mendelson
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Cutten	Caroline Mendelson
	💍 1888/787
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	1 year	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Temuka
Folio	88/605
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1888
Officiating Minister	Registrar

5 March 1888

George Thomson
Sarah Bowman

George Thomson
Sarah Bowman
💍 1888/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

35
21

Temuka
Temuka

2 years
5 years

Private residence, Cheese factory

88/602

5 March 1888

Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	5 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomson	Sarah Bowman
	💍 1888/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Private residence, Cheese factory
Folio	88/602
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dickson, Presbyterian

26 March 1888

David Bradford
Martha Susannah Walker

David Bradford
Martha Susannah Walker
💍 1888/1677

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
26

Temuka
Temuka

20 years
26 years

St. Saviour's Church

88/627

26 March 1888

Rev. J. A. Hamilton, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	26 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Bradford	Martha Susannah Walker
	💍 1888/1677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church
Folio	88/627
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hamilton, Church of England

31 March 1888

Edward Smith
Jessie Campbell McNain

Edward Smith
Jessie Campbell McNair
💍 1888/1669

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

32
26

Temuka
Nairland Grove Temuka

5 days
20 years

Residence of Mrs. McNain, Nairland Grove

88/620

31 March 1888

Rev. G. Barclay, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	31 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Smith	Jessie Campbell McNain
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Smith	Jessie Campbell McNair
	💍 1888/1669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Nairland Grove Temuka
Length of Residence	5 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. McNain, Nairland Grove
Folio	88/620
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Barclay, Presbyterian

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).