Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 197

District of Buller Quarter ending 31 March 1889

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
454	2 January 1889	James Hollows Sarah Ellen Horsfield	James Hollows Sarah Ellen Westfield 💍 1889/426	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Housekeeper	21 21	Denniston Denniston	8 months 3 years	Church of England	89/441		2 January 1889	James E. Cullen
455	11 January 1889	Michael Hennessy Sarah Ann Bull	Michael Hennessey Sarah Ann Bull 💍 1889/427	Bachelor Spinster	Labour Dressmaker	21 20	Fairdown Westport	12 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church	89/442	Neville Bull, Father	11 January 1889	Thomas Walshe
456	2 February 1889	George Rennie Georgina Martin	George Rennie Georgina Martin 💍 1889/2633	Widower Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic	30 21	Westport Westport	15 months 2 years	At the residence of the Registrar	89/437		2 February 1889	Henry Brom Burnett
457	5 February 1889	Frederick Richard Prosser Jane Bassinman		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Tailoress	44 30	Westport Westport	21 years 4 years	At the residence of Mr John Bassinman	89/438	John Bassinman	5 February 1889	Henry Brom Burnett
458	7 February 1889	Denis McGarrell Emma Sully	Dennis McGarrell Emma Sully 💍 1889/1319	Widower Widow	Bellman Washerwoman	75 50	Westport Westport	22 1/2 years 20 years	Church of England	89/308		7 February 1889	James E. Cullen
459	19 February 1889	John McDavitt Mary Jane Duggan	John McDevitt Mary Jane Duggan 💍 1889/428	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 19	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	12 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Church	89/443	Jeremiah Duggan, Father	19 February 1889	Thomas Walshe
460	21 February 1889	William Gothard Isabella Sue Hearin Butland	William Gothard Isabella Grace Marion Butland 💍 1889/894	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	28 20	Westport Westport	20 years 15 months	Church of England	89/851	John Butland, Father	21 February 1889	James E. Cullen
461	21 February 1889	John Kay Elizabeth Lochhead Ross	John Kay Elizabeth Lochead Ross 💍 1889/424	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	34 20	Westport Westport	3 1/2 years 17 years	At the residence of Mr Alex Bruce Ross	89/439	Jessie Ross, Mother	21 February 1889	Henry Brom Burnett
462	4 March 1889	John Ormond Mary Horrat	John Ormond Mary Howat 💍 1889/425	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Barmaid	28 21	Westport Westport	12 months 3 months	At the Club Hotel	89/440		4 March 1889	Thomas Walshe
463	9 March 1889	Henry Durins Elizabeth Bissill	Henry Curtis Elizabeth Bissett 💍 1889/895 Henry Hill Elizabeth McBride 💍 1889/1038	Bachelor Widow	Miner	35 25	Westport Westport	2 weeks 4 weeks	Church of England	89/852		9 March 1889	James E. Cullen

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).