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 587

District of Buller Quarter ending 30 June 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
464	3 April 1889	Arthur Suff Millicent Farmer	Arthur Luff Millicent Farmer 💍 1889/1317	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller Domestic	26 18	Westport Westport	2 years 18 years	United Methodist Parsonage	89/1306	her person in the Colony to give consent	3 April 1889	James Wrigley
465	22 April 1889	Martin Loughlin Sarah Loughlin	Martin O'Loughlin Sarah McLoughlin 💍 1889/1364	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Household Duties	27 23	Waimangarra Waimangarra	6 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Church Westport	89/1313		22 April 1889	Thomas Walshe
466	9 May 1889	Martin Howard Mary Adams	Martin Howard Mary Adams 💍 1889/1365	Bachelor Spinster	Quarryman Domestic Duties	32 22	Cape Foulwind Westport	2 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church Westport	89/1314		9 May 1889	Thomas Walshe
467	15 May 1889	Joseph Hollows Annie Jemmings	Joseph Hollows Annie Jennings 💍 1889/1320	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Household Duties	23 18	Waimangarra Waimangarra	12 months 9 years	Church of England Westport	89/1309	Ship father	15 May 1889	James E. Cullen
468	17 May 1889	Timothy Carby Margaret Dee	Timothy Corby Margaret Dee 💍 1889/1366	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	38 28	Coal Creek Addisons	3 years 12 months	Roman Catholic Church Westport	89/1315		17 May 1889	John J. Morrissey
469	25 May 1889	Alfred Luceden Jean Watson	Alfred Treseder Jean Watson 💍 1889/1346	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 21	Denniston Ngakawau	3 years 10 years	At the residence of Robert Lamahill	89/1310		25 May 1889	James E. Cullen
470	25 May 1889	James Meadons Alice Champion	James Meadows Louisa Champion 💍 1889/1318	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Westport Westport	2 years 8 years	Free Methodist Church, Westport	89/1307	William Champion, Father	25 May 1889	James Wrigley
471	7 June 1889	John Minnie Smart Caroline Davis	John Minnie Stewart Caroline Davis 💍 1889/1357	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Domestic Duties	33 22	Waimangarra Waimangarra	2 years 20 years	At the residence of Charles Davis	89/1311		7 June 1889	James E. Cullen
472	8 June 1889	Robert Evan Rathhill Jessie Watson	Robert Evan Satchell Jessie Watson 💍 1889/1363	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	29 25	Granity Creek Granity Creek	2 years 8 years	At the residence of Robert Watson	89/1312		8 June 1889	James E. Cullen
473	27 June 1889	Claude William Clementon Emily Francis Easton	Claude William Clementson Emily Francis Easton 💍 1889/1367	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 20	Westport Westport	2 years 20 years	At the residence of Mr Jules Simon	89/1316	Thomas Easton, Father	27 June 1889	Thomas Walshe

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).