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 301

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar A. M. Rue

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

9 January 1888

Adam Brown Todd
Margaret Wright

Adam Brown Todd
Margaret Wright
💍 1888/844

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

31 years
25 years

Dunedin
Caversham

5 years
18 months

In the house of John Thom Wright

88/1665

9 January 1888

Revd W. S. Houchins, Minister, Church of Christ

No	13
Date of Notice	9 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Brown Todd	Margaret Wright
	💍 1888/844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	31 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of John Thom Wright
Folio	88/1665
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd W. S. Houchins, Minister, Church of Christ

10 January 1888

John Tapp Philp
Alice Clark

John Tapp Philp
Alice Clark
💍 1888/902

Widower
Spinster

Plasterer

52 years
34 years

Roslyn
North East Valley

20 years
3 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/749

10 January 1888

A. R. Wee, Registrar of Marriages

No	14
Date of Notice	10 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tapp Philp	Alice Clark
	💍 1888/902
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	52 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	North East Valley
Length of Residence	20 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/749
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Wee, Registrar of Marriages

12 January 1888

Samuel Simmons
Julia Isaacs

Samuel Simmons
Julia Isaacs
💍 1888/825

Bachelor
Spinster

Cutter

28 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
22 years

In the house of Mrs Abigail Isaacs, High Street

88/1669

12 January 1888

Revd B. Lichtenstein, Jewish Rabbi

No	15
Date of Notice	12 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Simmons	Julia Isaacs
	💍 1888/825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cutter
Age	28 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Abigail Isaacs, High Street
Folio	88/1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd B. Lichtenstein, Jewish Rabbi

13 January 1888

Peter Paul Fleming
Mary Gertrude Barrett

Peter Paul Fleming
Mary Gertrude Barrett
💍 1888/839

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

32 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
10 years

In St Josephs Cathedral

88/1660

12 January 1888

Revd P. Lynch, Roman Catholic Priest

No	16
Date of Notice	13 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Paul Fleming	Mary Gertrude Barrett
	💍 1888/839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	32 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In St Josephs Cathedral
Folio	88/1660
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd P. Lynch, Roman Catholic Priest

14 January 1888

William Langlands Jack
Elizabeth Strachan

William Langlands Jack
Elizabeth Strachan
💍 1888/855

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

36 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
26 years

In the house of William Strachan, Elder Street

88/1699

14 January 1888

Revd Dr Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	17
Date of Notice	14 January 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Langlands Jack	Elizabeth Strachan
	💍 1888/855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	36 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Strachan, Elder Street
Folio	88/1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

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).