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 971

District of Buller 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
474	6 July 1889	Robert Vicars Ella Jane Ferguson	Robert Vicars Ella Jane Ferguson 💍 1889/2658	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Fitter	22 16	Westport Westport	2 years 16 years	at the residence of George Ferguson, Westport	89/2647	George Ferguson, Father	6 July 1889	Henry Brown Burnell
475	22 July 1889	Florian Adamk Mary Jane Poole	Florian Adank Mary Jane Poole 💍 1889/2189	Bachelor Widow	Accountant Boardinghousekeeper	52 39		5 years 5 years	at the Temperance Hotel, Westport	89/2222		22 July 1889	James E Cullen
476	8 August 1889	John O'Callaghan Ellen O'Brien	John OCallaghan Ellen OBrien 💍 1889/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer General Servant	31 21	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	20 months 12 months	at the residence of John O'Callaghan, Cape Foulwind	89/2226		8 August 1889	Thomas Walshe
477	13 August 1889	Robert Button Annie McCarthy	Robert Button Annie McCardy 💍 1889/2192	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	42 26	Denniston Westport	17 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	89/2225		13 August 1889	John Morrissey
478	31 August 1889	John Gottfried Schmidt Selina Rose Dingwall	John Godfried Schmidt Catherine Rose Dingwall 💍 1889/2659	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 19		6 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Westport	89/2648	Eliza Thompson, Mother	31 August 1889	Henry Brown Burnell
479	12 September 1889	Michael McNamara Mary Gillick	Michael McNamara Mary Gillick 💍 1889/2660	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Servant	35 25		4 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	89/2649		12 September 1889	Thomas Walshe
480	14 September 1889	Frederick Henry Kennedy Edith Harris Hart	Fredrick Henry Kennedy Edith Harriett Hart 💍 1889/2190	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 18	Waimangaroa Westport	3 years 10 years	Church of England	89/2223	Henry Hart, Father	14 September 1889	James E Cullen
481	19 September 1889	Charles George Friend Jane Spur Harris	Charles George Friend Jane Spry Harris 💍 1889/2196	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Dressmaker	28 21	Denniston	7 years 2 years	Addisons	89/2228		19 September 1889	W. S. Lucas
482	24 September 1889	Richard Restagno Annibal Emma Rachel Rosenberg	Richard Restagna Annibal Emma Rachel Rosenberg 💍 1889/2191	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	37 21	Cape Foulwind	3 years 1 year	Church of England Parsonage, Westport	89/2224		24 September 1889	James E Cullen

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).