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 922

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 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
15	9 July 1889	Alexander Cumming Johan Munro	Alexander Cumming Milne Johan Munro 💍 1889/2136	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	31 20	Masterton Kurepine	2 1/2 years 20 years	House of Mr Hector Munro Kurepuni	89/2143	Hector Munro Father	9 July 1889	Revd David Fulton Presbyterian
16	10 July 1889	Alexander Simson Elizabeth Settien Munro	Alexander Smith Elizabeth Jamieson 💍 1890/743 Alexander McLean Elizabeth Dangen 💍 1889/2796	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	30 22	Masterton Kurepuni	2 years 8 years	House of Mr Carl Volheim Kurepuni	89/2148	Carl Volheim Father	10 July 1889	Revd William Rouse Wesleyan
17	12 July 1889	Isaac Pike Mary Ansley By Murday	Isaac Pike Amy Ansley Buckeridge 💍 1889/2144	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Te Whiti Masterton	7 years 3 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	89/2150		12 July 1889	John Bagge Registrar of Marriages
18	15 July 1889	Walter Badd Annie Thrupp	Walter Budd Annie Thrupp 💍 1889/2137	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	25 19	Masterton Mauricville	5 years 16 years	House of Revd David Fulton Masterton	89/2144	Thomas Thrupp Father	15 July 1889	Revd David Fulton Presbyterian
19	27 July 1889	John William Gaden Maria Mary Perry	John William Gordon Rosina Mary Perry 💍 1889/2142	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	25 21	Masterton Masterton + Green Street	14 years 21 years	House of Mr Walter Perry Green Street	89/2149		27 July 1889	Revd John Dillow Wesleyan
20	30 July 1889	John August Swanson Louisa Augusta Volheim	John August Swenson Louisa Auguste Vollheim 💍 1889/2145	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 17	Masterton Masterton	3 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	89/2157	Carl Volheim Father	30 July 1889	John Bagge Registrar of Marriages
21	9 September 1889	Arthur Poud Sarah Ellen Betty	Arthur Pond Sarah Ellen Betty 💍 1889/2138	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	22 23	Masterton Masterton	7 years 13 years	House of Mr William Betty Masterton	89/2145		9 September 1889	Revd William Rouse Wesleyan
22	11 September 1889	Harold Beresford Latham Charlotte Herbert	Harold Beresford Latham Charlotte Herbert 💍 1889/2139	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	25 18	Rangituman Opaki	2 years 6 years	House of Mr Jesse Herbert Opaki	89/2146	Jesse Herbert Father	11 September 1889	Revd W. E. Paige Church of England

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).