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 1041

District of Ashburton 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
608	6 July 1889	George Hundred Charlotte McLean	George Murdoch Charlotte McClean 💍 1889/3583	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 24	Lauriston Seafield	10 years 2 months	The private dwelling house of Robert McLean, Seafield	89/2385		6 July 1889	Revd. P. J. Riddle
609	12 July 1889	John Dixon Jessie Miller	John Dixon Jessie Miller 💍 1889/2375	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 23	Tinwald Makarewa	9 years 20 years	Presbyterian Manse	89/2389		12 July 1889	Revd. A. M. Beattie
610	23 July 1889	James Foley Mary Stone	James Foley Mary Anne Irvine 💍 1889/2691	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 21	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church	89/2657		23 July 1889	Revd. F. Chattagnon
611	23 July 1889	John Keen Emma Ashley	William Keen Emma Ashley 💍 1889/2382	Widower Widow	Gardener Cook	38 45	Tinwald Tinwald	14 months 7 days	Private Dwellinghouse of Revd. J. W. Lawle at Tinwald	89/2396		23 July 1889	Revd. J. W. Lawle
612	2 August 1889	David Broom Sarah Jane Hutchinson	David Broom Sarah Jane Hutchinson 💍 1889/2377	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Domestic Servant	29 26	Ashburton Allenton	10 years 3 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Mr. J. Randall at Allenton	89/2391		2 August 1889	Revd. J. R. Beattie
613	17 August 1889	Edward Taylor Georgina Doyle	Edward Taylor Georgina Doyle 💍 1889/2373	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 17	Ruapuna Eden Terrace	6 months 8 years	Private Dwellinghouse of John Doyle, at Eden Terrace	89/2387	John Doyle, Father	17 August 1889	Revd. W. Finlayson
614	19 August 1889	William Hyde Mary McAuslin	William Hyde Mary McAuslin 💍 1889/2379	Bachelor Spinster	Linensmith	22 15	Ashburton Ashburton	11 years 2 1/2 years	Registrar's Office	89/2393	Mary McAuslin, Mother	19 August 1889	J. Ward, Registrar
615	26 August 1889	William Wilson Agnes Black	William Wilson Agnes Black 💍 1889/2381	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 29	Ashburton Masterfield	1 year 2 years	Registrar's Office	89/2395		26 August 1889	J. Ward, Registrar
616	27 August 1889	John Bancher Sarah McDonald	John Bamber Sarah McDonald 💍 1889/2380	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey Domestic Servant	26 22	Tinwald Ashburton	1 year 6 months	Registrar's Office	89/2394		27 August 1889	J. Ward, Registrar
617	2 September 1889	John Parker Florence Liles	John Parker Florence Giles 💍 1889/2376	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 20	Irvineton Makarewa	11 years 8 years	Private Dwellinghouse of John Parker at Irvineton	89/2390	William Liles, Father	4 September 1889	Revd. A. M. Beattie
618	7 September 1889	Duncan McKenzie Betsy Robertson	Duncan McKenzie Betsey Robertson 💍 1889/2378 Walter MacKenzie Janet Robertson 💍 1889/1289	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 27	Hinds Lowcliffe	10 years 8 years	Wesleyan Church	89/2392		7 September 1889	Revd. J. R. Beattie

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).