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 313

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1888 Registrar A. R. Ure

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

5 March 1888

Richard Moore
Elizabeth Payne

Richard Moore
Elizabeth Payne
💍 1888/75

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

40 years
36 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

88/760

5 March 1888

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	80
Date of Notice	5 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Moore	Elizabeth Payne
	💍 1888/75
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	40 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	88/760
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1888
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

5 March 1888

William Baker Fisher
Stella Heyward Mann

William Baker Fisher
Stella Hayward Mann
💍 1888/827

Widower
Spinster

Clerk

33 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
15 years

In St Pauls Church

88/691

5 March 1888

Ven Archdeacon Edwards, Church of England Minister

No	81
Date of Notice	5 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Baker Fisher	Stella Heyward Mann
BDM Match (97%)	William Baker Fisher	Stella Hayward Mann
	💍 1888/827
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In St Pauls Church
Folio	88/691
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Edwards, Church of England Minister

6 March 1888

John Anderson Findlay
Helen Thomas

John Anderson Findlay
Helen Thomas
💍 1888/894

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

25 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
23 years

In the house of William Thomas, Filleul Street

88/740

6 March 1888

Revd. T. North, Baptist Minister

No	82
Date of Notice	6 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Anderson Findlay	Helen Thomas
	💍 1888/894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Thomas, Filleul Street
Folio	88/740
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. T. North, Baptist Minister

6 March 1888

Sidney Oliver Stokes
Isabella Johnston

Sydney Oliver Stokes
Isabella Johnston
💍 1888/804

Bachelor
Spinster

Drayman

26 years
18 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 years
13 years

In the Methodist Church, Dundas Street

88/648

Isabella Johnston, mother of minor

6 March 1888

Revd. J. Nixon, Methodist Minister

No	83
Date of Notice	6 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Oliver Stokes	Isabella Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Oliver Stokes	Isabella Johnston
	💍 1888/804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drayman
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Dundas Street
Folio	88/648
Consent	Isabella Johnston, mother of minor
Date of Certificate	6 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Nixon, Methodist Minister

7 March 1888

Richard Edwards Junr.
Rebecca Moore

Richard Edwards Junr
Rebecca Moore
💍 1888/878

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

22 years
10 years

In the house of Revd. D. Stuart

88/724

7 March 1888

Revd. D. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	84
Date of Notice	7 March 1888
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edwards Junr.	Rebecca Moore
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Edwards Junr	Rebecca Moore
	💍 1888/878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. D. Stuart
Folio	88/724
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1888
Officiating Minister	Revd. D. 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).