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 615

District of Rangiora 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
567	1 April 1889	Joseph Rickard James Elizabeth Catherine Hodger	Joseph Richard James Elizabeth Catherine Hodgson 💍 1889/1537	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Dressmaker	42 24	Rangiora Rangiora	12 years 4 years	Church of England, Rangiora	89/1355		1 April 1889	Revd. W. E. Gellard, Rangiora
568	16 April 1889	Edward Eden Taylor Ellen Taylor	Edward Edlin Ellen Taylor 💍 1889/1529	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	23 19	Wood End Wood End	23 years 12 years	Office of Registrar	89/1348	Helen Taylor, mother	20 April 1889	W. H. Cunningham, Registrar
569	29 May 1889	William Anderson Mary Jane Upritchard	William Anderson Mary Jane Pritchard 💍 1889/1531 William Anderson Mary Ann Jane Anderson 💍 1890/371 William Anderson Mary Nutt 💍 1889/1558	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd not any	28 23	Loburn Loburn	7 days 3 months	Dwelling House of Joseph Upritchard	89/1350		29 May 1889	Officiating Minister
570	4 June 1889	Joseph Upritchard Selena Busch	Joseph Upritchard Selina Burch 💍 1889/1533	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 18	Loburn Loburn	25 years 14 years	Dwelling House of John Busch	89/1352	John Busch, father	4 June 1889	Chas. H. Gossett, Officiating Minister
571	4 June 1889	William Buckley Sarah Ann Miles	William Buckley Sarah Annie Miles 💍 1889/1536	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	33 23	Rangiora Rangiora	12 years 15 years	Church of England, Rangiora	89/1354		4 June 1889	Revd. W. E. Gellard, Officiating Minister
572	13 June 1889	Albert Cooper Mary Ellen North	Albert Cooper Mary Ellen Croft 💍 1889/1534	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	29 23	Ashley Ashley	3 days 23 years	Church of England, Ashley	89/1353		13 June 1889	Revd. C. H. Gossett, Officiating Minister
573	17 June 1889	Archibald Hamell Ellen Brady	Archibald Hamill Ellen Brady 💍 1889/1532	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	24 20	Rangiora Loburn	3 days 20 years	Roman Catholic Church, Rangiora	89/1351		17 June 1889	Revd. Daniel O'Connor, Officiating Minister
574	20 June 1889	Samuel Jeffs Marianne O'Callaghan	Samuel Jeffs Madeline O'Callaghan 💍 1889/1530	Widower Widow	Gentleman not any	59 54	Rangiora Rangiora	5 years 5 years	Office of Registrar	89/1349		29 June 1889	C. H. Cunningham, Registrar

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).