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 638

District of Christchurch 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
155	30 April 1889	James Walter Tucker Ada Lucey Holles	James Walter Tucker Ada Lucy Stokes 💍 1889/1460	Bachelor Spinster	Gasfitter Dressmaker	23 19	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 19 years	House of Joseph Holles, Park Road	89/1430	Joseph Holles, father	30 April 1889	Rev. W. J. Williams, Wesleyan
156	30 April 1889	Joseph Firth Janet McRae	Joseph Firth Janet McRae 💍 1889/1413	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	30 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	St. Michaels Church	89/1386		30 April 1889	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
157	2 May 1889	Herbert Henry Ward Nelly Ann Brown	Herbert Henry Ward Nelly Swinson Brown 💍 1889/1489	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 17 years	Registrar's Office	89/1482		2 May 1889	J. J. Palluison, Registrar of Marriages
158	3 May 1889	Ernest Rhind Anderson Annie McTaggart Harman	Ernest Rhind Anderson Anne McTaggert Harman 💍 1889/1420	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	33 31	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 30 years	St. Michaels Church	89/1387		3 May 1889	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
159	4 May 1889	Thomas Preston Pratt Catherine Macfarland	Thomas Merton Pratt Catherine McFarland 💍 1889/1645	Bachelor Spinster	Seedsman	32 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 8 years	House of Andrew Macfarland, Sydenham	89/1444		4 May 1889	Rev. P. R. Munro, Presbyterian
160	4 May 1889	David Lusk Isabella Macfarland	David Lusk Isabella McFarland 💍 1889/1646	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 11 years	House of Andrew Macfarland, Hutchinson, Sydenham	89/1445		4 May 1889	Rev. P. R. Munro, Presbyterian
161	4 May 1889	George Henry Lilley Susan Brown	George Henry Lilley Susan Brown 💍 1889/1490	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 17 years	Registrar's Office	89/1483		4 May 1889	J. W. Parkerson, 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).