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 1301

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 December 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
25	2 October 1889	Joseph Henry Hough Nellie Hartnell	Joseph Henry Haigh Nellie Herbert 💍 1889/2955	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Dreyerton Hawkhurst	6 Months 5 years	Roman Catholic Church	89/2998		2 October 1889	Rev. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
26	5 October 1889	Alfred Beause Wilhelmina Bough	Alfred Evans Wilhelmina Waugh 💍 1889/2945	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	32 21	Upper Plain Matahuri	4 years 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	89/3006		5 October 1889	John Bagge, Registrar
27	14 October 1889	George Hyde Susan Hogland	George Hyde Susan Wagland 💍 1889/2947	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker Dressmaker	21 21	Masterton Masterton	16 Months 6 years	House of Mr. Philip Hogland	89/3008		14 October 1889	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
28	22 October 1889	George Henry Yates Kate Still	George Henry Yates Kate Hill 💍 1889/2963	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Upper Plain Masterton	6 Months 20 years	Church of England	89/3001		22 October 1889	The Rev. W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
29	25 October 1889	Herbert Robert Alice Mary Maria Meads	John Bowden Roberts Alice May Maria Meads 💍 1889/2948	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	30 24	Upper Plain Upper Plain	18 Months 15 Months	House of Mr. Thomas Meads	89/3009		25 October 1889	Rev. David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
30	31 October 1889	Albert McLeod Charlotte Koch		Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	31 25	Langdale Whareama Carswells	3 Months 3 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Tenui Castlepoint District	89/3010		31 October 1889	William Alfred Harding, Registrar
31	6 November 1889	Charles Clark Martha Matilda Morris	Charles Clark Martha Matilda Morris 💍 1889/2965	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Masterton Masterton	5 years 18 years	House of Mr. George Morris	89/3003	George Morris, Father	6 November 1889	Rev. Tom Rouse, Wesleyan Minister
32	9 November 1889	Tom Jeffrey Haight Thames Matilda Daton		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 26	Masterton Masterton	6 weeks 6 Months	House of Rev. Tom Rouse	89/3004		9 November 1889	Rev. Tom Rouse, Wesleyan Minister
33	21 November 1889	Patrick Savage Mary Conroy	Patrick Savage Mary Conroy 💍 1889/2961	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	34 19	Masterton Masterton	10 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	89/2999	His Daniel Conroy, Mark Father	21 November 1889	Rev. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
34	26 November 1889	John Murphy Catherine O'Brien	John Murphy Catherine OBrien 💍 1889/2962	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	30 26	Masterton Masterton	7 years 5 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	89/3000		26 November 1889	Rev. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

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).