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 1353

District of Buller 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
483	7 October 1889	John Wargan Ellen Combes	John Worgan Ellen Coombes 💍 1889/3059 John Moroney Ellen Campbell 💍 1889/2524	Widower Spinster	Miner Housekeeper	37 22	Denniston Westport	5 years	Registrars Office	89/3097	7 October 1889	Robert Fair Registrar
484	12 October 1889	John Mason Carroll Ellen Imphamas	John Mason Carroll Ellen McNamara 💍 1889/3030	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Service	31 24	Westport Westport	3 years 12 Days	Westport	89/3090	12 October 1889	Thomas Walshe
485	21 October 1889	Lawrence Williamson Inkster Eliza Florence Jane Gates	Laurence Williamson Inkster Eliza Florence Jane Coates 💍 1889/3536	Bachelor Spinster	Boardinghouse Keeper	45 24	Private residence of and books Bright Street Westport Westport	6 years 3 months	Private residence of and books Bright Street Westport	89/3610	21 October 1889	James E. Cullen
486	25 October 1889	Nicola Matulich Beatrice Kavanagh	Nicola Matulich Beatrice Kavanagh 💍 1889/3032	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Domestic Servant	42 22	Residence of Timothy Sheahan Westport	4 years 4 weeks	Residence of Timothy Sheahan	89/3092	25 October 1889	Thomas Walshe
487	28 October 1889	Henry Shields Anastasia Brimm	Henry Neilds Anastasia Brown 💍 1889/3060	Bachelor Widow	Fireman	27 23	Westport Westport	3 years 4 years	Registrars Office	89/3098	28 October 1889	Robert Fair Registrar
488	13 November 1889	Joseph Henry Philips Eliza Hammond	Joseph Henry Phillips Eliza Hammond 💍 1889/3061	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Duties	43 45	Denniston Westport	3 Days 3 Days	Registrars Office	89/3099	13 November 1889	Robert Fair Registrar
489	16 November 1889	William Alfred Ralph Sophia Ellen Matthews	William Alfred Ralph Sophia Ellen Mathews 💍 1889/3033	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman General Servant	23 21	Denniston Chamangarra	3 years 6 months	Westport	89/3093	16 November 1889	John J. Morrissey
490	18 November 1889	William Management Murraman Margaret Lee	William Newman Margaret Lee 💍 1889/3062	Widower Widow	Miner	41 42	Denniston Westport	4 years 3 days	Registrars Office	89/3100	18 November 1889	Robert Fair Registrar
491	23 November 1889	William McMahon Jane Gross	William McMahon Jane Moss 💍 1889/3042	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	29 22	Cape Foulwind Westport	2 1/2 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church	89/3095	23 November 1889	John J. Morrissey
492	24 November 1889	Thomas Hinton Annie O'Reilly	Thomas Thornton Annie O'Reilly 💍 1889/3034	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	36 25		6 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church Westport	89/3094	24 November 1889	Thomas Walshe
493	2 December 1889	Henry Burn Burnett Martha Hulary		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Residence of Mr George Harcombe Westport	3 months 9 months	Residence of Mr George Harcombe	89/3096	2 December 1889	Henry Burn Burnett
494	4 December 1889	Thomas Inlane Isabelle Edwards	Thomas Treloar Isabelle Edwards 💍 1889/3063	Widower Widow	Journalist	47 46	The Registrars Office The Registrars Office	8 months 3 Days	Registrars Office Westport	89/3101	4 December 1889	Robert Fair Registrar

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).