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 263

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 31 March 1889 Registrar H. W. Lee

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

4 January 1889

Joseph Carr
Elizabeth Snell

Joseph Carr
Elizabeth Snell
💍 1889/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
28

Leeston
Leeston

10 years
8 years

at the house of John Snell, Leeston

89/601

4 January 1889

Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan, of Leeston

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Carr	Elizabeth Snell
	💍 1889/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	at the house of John Snell, Leeston
Folio	89/601
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan, of Leeston

7 February 1889

Duning Moffet
Jessie Jane Hoyle

Jennings Moffet
Jessie Jane Doyle
💍 1889/583

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Leeston
Leeston

5 days
5 weeks

In the Presbyterian Church at Leeston

89/602

7 February 1889

Rev. S. W. Cree, Presbyterian, of Leeston

No	2
Date of Notice	7 February 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duning Moffet	Jessie Jane Hoyle
BDM Match (84%)	Jennings Moffet	Jessie Jane Doyle
	💍 1889/583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	5 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Leeston
Folio	89/602
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Cree, Presbyterian, of Leeston

9 February 1889

Charles Hugh Willis
Eleanor Mary Edwards

Charles Hugh Willes
Eleanor Mary Edwards
💍 1889/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

25
25

Southbridge
Southbridge

1 year
7 years

St James' Church of England, Southbridge

89/599

9 February 1889

Rev. C. Whitehouse, Church of England, of Southbridge

No	3
Date of Notice	9 February 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hugh Willis	Eleanor Mary Edwards
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Hugh Willes	Eleanor Mary Edwards
	💍 1889/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	1 year	7 years
Marriage Place	St James' Church of England, Southbridge
Folio	89/599
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Whitehouse, Church of England, of Southbridge

22 March 1889

John Adams
Emily Parris

John Adams
Emily Parris
💍 1889/581

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
17

Killinchy
Selwyn

20 years
1 year

In the Presbyterian Church at Southbridge

89/600

Henry William Parris (father)

22 March 1889

Rev. W. West, Presbyterian, of Southbridge

No	4
Date of Notice	22 March 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Adams	Emily Parris
	💍 1889/581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Selwyn
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church at Southbridge
Folio	89/600
Consent	Henry William Parris (father)
Date of Certificate	22 March 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. West, Presbyterian, of Southbridge

29 March 1889

William Dawson
Margaret Matthews

William Dawson
Margaret Matthews
💍 1889/1565

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
23

Lakeside
Lakeside

4 years
4 years

at the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston

89/1534

29 March 1889

Rev. S. W. Cree, Presbyterian, of Leeston

No	5
Date of Notice	29 March 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dawson	Margaret Matthews
	💍 1889/1565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Lakeside
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston
Folio	89/1534
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Cree, Presbyterian, of Leeston

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).