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 663

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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
594	2 May 1889	William Bryant Maud Williams	William Bryant Maud Williams 💍 1889/1767	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Tailoress	23 years 18 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 1/2 years 12 years	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton	89/1542	Philip Williams, Father	3 May 1889	Revd. J. N. Buttle
595	11 May 1889	Richard Ernest Lechner Emma Madeline Bean	Richard Ernest Lechner Emma Madeline Bean 💍 1889/1764	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Teacher	28 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	14 years 11 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	89/1539		11 May 1889	Revd. F. A. Scott
596	11 May 1889	James Clucas Annie Lunt	James Clucas Annie Lunt 💍 1889/1763	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 22 years	Seafield Seafield	3 years 6 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	89/1538		11 May 1889	Revd. F. A. Scott
597	11 May 1889	Arthur Capon Emily Louisa Walker	Arthur Capon Emily Louisa Walker 💍 1889/1756	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 years 18 years	Lauriston Lauriston	9 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	89/1537	John Walker, Father	18 May 1889	J. Ward, Registrar
	8 April 1889	William O'Connor Hannah Hearts	William O'Connor Elizabeth H Kemp 💍 1889/1752	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic Servant	25 years 27 years	Ashburton Ashburton	7 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	89/1551		8 April 1889	Revd. F. Chastamon
	13 April 1889	Mary Ann Stewart		Spinster		25 years	Princess St. Dunedin	5 years	of William Stewart, Princess St. Dunedin	89/1623		13 April 1889	Revd. Jesse Brothroyd
	13 April 1889	Stephen George Crann Margaret Elizabeth Hewish	Stephen George Crum Margaret Elizabeth Kewish 💍 1889/1747	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Cook	38 years 33 years	Ritherby Ashburton	5 years 3 months	Private Dwellinghouse of George Lamb, Ashburton	89/1546	George Lamb, Father	13 April 1889	Revd. A. M. Beattie
	13 April 1889	Arthur Brandley Charlotte Annie Lamb	Arthur Bramley Charlotte Annie Lamb 💍 1889/1749	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	25 years 20 years	Elgin Ashburton	5 years 15 years	Private Dwellinghouse of George Lamb, Ashburton	89/1548	George Lamb, Father	13 April 1889	Revd. A. M. Beattie
	16 April 1889	William Thomas Button Elizabeth Call	William Thomas Sutton Elizabeth Cap 💍 1889/1745 William Thomas Stevens Elizabeth Waugh 💍 1889/2401 William James Paul Elizabeth Hall 💍 1890/3589 William Thomas Burvill Elizabeth Hawkins 💍 1890/265 William Thomas Mason Marian Elizabeth Shanahan 💍 1889/2440 William Duncan Elizabeth Taylor 💍 1889/3005	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 years 19 years	Westerfield Wakanui	1 year 12 years	Baptist Church, Ashburton	89/1536	Francis Call, Father	16 April 1889	Revd. J. W. Sawle
	27 April 1889	John Symes Jane McLauchlan	John Lynes Jane McLauchlan 💍 1889/1753	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 years 26 years	Tinwald Tinwald	3 months 6 months	Private Dwellinghouse of Mrs. Elizth. McLauchlan at Tinwald	89/1552		27 April 1889	Revd. A. Blake
	29 April 1889	George Johnston Mill Annie Verda	George Johnston Neill Annie Harold 💍 1889/1750	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 years 25 years	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 9 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Thomas Harred, Alford Forest Road	89/1549		29 April 1889	Revd. A. M. 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).