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 1389

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 31 December 1889 Registrar J. Johnston

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

724

25 October 1889

James White
Sarah Henly Barnard

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour
Domestic duties

26
22

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

5 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church

89/3151

Rev Robert McGregor, Presbyterian

No	724
Date of Notice	25 October 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James White	Sarah Henly Barnard
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	89/3151
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert McGregor, Presbyterian

725

25 October 1889

Erich Carl Alwin Planck
May Johanne Power

Erich Carl Alwin Rank
Mary Johannah Power
💍 1889/3079

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodscourer
Domestic duties

32
29

Ohoka
Sydenham

10 years
5 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch

89/3168

27 November 1889

Rev S Cummings, Roman Catholic

No	725
Date of Notice	25 October 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Erich Carl Alwin Planck	May Johanne Power
BDM Match (86%)	Erich Carl Alwin Rank	Mary Johannah Power
	💍 1889/3079
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodscourer	Domestic duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Ohoka	Sydenham
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Christchurch
Folio	89/3168
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev S Cummings, Roman Catholic

726

2 December 1889

Frank Merrin
Annie Paterson

Frank Merrin
Annie Paterson
💍 1889/3618

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
24

Coutts Island
Coutts Island

25 years
3 days

The residence of James Wright, Kaiapoi

89/3152

2 December 1889

Rev Robert McGregor, Presbyterian

No	726
Date of Notice	2 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Merrin	Annie Paterson
	💍 1889/3618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Coutts Island	Coutts Island
Length of Residence	25 years	3 days
Marriage Place	The residence of James Wright, Kaiapoi
Folio	89/3152
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert McGregor, Presbyterian

727

4 December 1889

Charles Tempeet Browley
Mary Ann Taylor

Charles Tempest Broadley
Mary Ann Taylor
💍 1889/3088

Bachelor
Spinster

Spencer
Domestic duties

24
26

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

10 years
22 years

The Church of England

89/3155

14 December 1889

Rev E A Phillips, Church of England

No	727
Date of Notice	4 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Tempeet Browley	Mary Ann Taylor
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Tempest Broadley	Mary Ann Taylor
	💍 1889/3088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Spencer	Domestic duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England
Folio	89/3155
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev E A Phillips, Church of England

728

12 December 1889

John White Bradley
Mary Jane Health

John White Bradley
Mary Jane Heald
💍 1889/3068

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour
Dressmaker

31
30

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

5 years
7 years

Wesleyan Church

89/3157

19 December 1889

Rev P W Fairclough, Wesleyan

No	728
Date of Notice	12 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John White Bradley	Mary Jane Health
BDM Match (94%)	John White Bradley	Mary Jane Heald
	💍 1889/3068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour	Dressmaker
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	89/3157
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev P W Fairclough, Wesleyan

729

19 December 1889

Fred Sharp
Matilda Ann Gooding

Fred Sharp
Matilda Ann Gooding
💍 1889/3069

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory operative
Weaver

29
37

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

8 years
7 years

The residence of Fred Sharp, Cam Road, Kaiapoi

89/3158

19 December 1889

Rev P W Fairclough, Wesleyan

No	729
Date of Notice	19 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Sharp	Matilda Ann Gooding
	💍 1889/3069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory operative	Weaver
Age	29	37
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	8 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Fred Sharp, Cam Road, Kaiapoi
Folio	89/3158
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev P W Fairclough, Wesleyan

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).