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 954

District of Wairau Quarter ending 30 September 1889 Registrar W. Ainsbury

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

25 July 1889

Martin Lydon
Honora O'Sullivan

Martin Lydon
Honora O'Sullivan
💍 1889/2255

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

31 years
25 years

Flaxbourne
Empire Hotel Blenheim

9 years
about 3 years

The Roman Catholic Church Blenheim

89/2192

12 July 1889

Revd W. G. Lewis

No	19
Date of Notice	25 July 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Lydon	Honora O'Sullivan
	💍 1889/2255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	31 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Flaxbourne	Empire Hotel Blenheim
Length of Residence	9 years	about 3 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church Blenheim
Folio	89/2192
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1889
Officiating Minister	Revd W. G. Lewis

26 July 1889

Andrew Gibson
Anne McAra

Andrew Gibson
Anne McIsaac
💍 1889/2258

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

28 years
18 years

Renwick Town
Renwick Town

28 years
18 years

The Presbyterian Church Blenheim

89/2195

Helen McAra, mother

26 July 1889

Revd W. O. Robb

No	20
Date of Notice	26 July 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Gibson	Anne McAra
BDM Match (83%)	Andrew Gibson	Anne McIsaac
	💍 1889/2258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Renwick Town	Renwick Town
Length of Residence	28 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church Blenheim
Folio	89/2195
Consent	Helen McAra, mother
Date of Certificate	26 July 1889
Officiating Minister	Revd W. O. Robb

20 July 1889

William Low
Ann White

William Tow
Anne White
💍 1889/2256

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

25 years
25 years

Blenheim
Redwood Town

about 4 years
about 7 years

The House of Mr. McAra Redwood Town

89/2193

29 July 1889

Revd W. G. Lewis

No	21
Date of Notice	20 July 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Low	Ann White
BDM Match (90%)	William Tow	Anne White
	💍 1889/2256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Redwood Town
Length of Residence	about 4 years	about 7 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. McAra Redwood Town
Folio	89/2193
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1889
Officiating Minister	Revd W. G. Lewis

8 August 1889

Alfred Edwin Scott
Catherine Josephine De Loree

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

21 years
22 years

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 days
12 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Blenheim

No marriage (see attached memo)

8 August 1889

The Registrar of Marriages Blenheim

No	22
Date of Notice	8 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edwin Scott	Catherine Josephine De Loree
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 days	12 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Blenheim
Folio	No marriage (see attached memo)
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1889
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages Blenheim

15 August 1889

Henry Satherley
Mary Christina Galvin

Henry Satherley
Mary Galvin
💍 1889/2257

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

35 years
26 years

Spring Creek
Spring Creek

20 years
5 years

The House of Mr. George Satherley, Spring Creek

89/2194

15 August 1889

Revd Paul Aubrey

No	23
Date of Notice	15 August 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Satherley	Mary Christina Galvin
BDM Match (76%)	Henry Satherley	Mary Galvin
	💍 1889/2257
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	35 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Spring Creek
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. George Satherley, Spring Creek
Folio	89/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1889
Officiating Minister	Revd Paul Aubrey

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).