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 1021

District of Christchurch Quarter ending

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
288	10 August 1889	George Edwards Elizabeth Gribble	George Edwards Elizabeth Gribble 💍 1889/2233	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Dressmaker	34 35	on Board S.S. Arawa Christchurch	4 years 2 years	House of Mr. J. Elmslie, Lichfield Street	89/2270	10 August 1889	Rev. J. Elmslie
289	10 August 1889	Octavius Born Annie Robinson	Octavius Boon Annie Robinson 💍 1889/2345	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church, Broadfield	89/2339	10 August 1889	Rev. S. J. W.
290	14 August 1889	Reuben Campton Mary Ann Richards	Reuben Campion Mary Ann Richards 💍 1889/2350	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 23 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	89/2362	14 August 1889	Registrar M. Morrison
291	14 August 1889	John Samuel Jones Rose Alice Barnden	John Samuel Jones Rose Alice Barnden 💍 1889/2283	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 5 years	House of Mr. W. Barnden, Spreydon	89/2295	14 August 1889	Rev. J. Edwards, United Meth.
292	17 August 1889	John Richardson Matilda Witty	John Richardson Matilda Witty 💍 1889/2288	Bachelor Widow	Currier	42 57	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 3 years	House of Mr. G. Witty, Fendalton	89/2300	17 August 1889	Rev. G. Webb, Presbyterian
293	19 August 1889	Edward Thompson Jane Brownlee	Edward Thompson Jane Brownlee 💍 1889/2286	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 25	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 6 years	Wesleyan Church, East Belt	89/2298	19 August 1889	Rev. W. W.
294	19 August 1889	John Henry Mass Rosina Holloway	John Henry Moss Rosina Holloway 💍 1889/2324	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman Dressmaker	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 23 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street	89/2312	19 August 1889	Callan
295	21 August 1889	Noah Ramsden Emma Elizabeth Hadaway	Josh Ramsden Emma Elizabeth Hodaway 💍 1889/2282	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	40 41	Christchurch Christchurch	11 years 1 year	St. John's Church, Latimer Square	89/2294	21 August 1889	Rev. J. O. B. Hoare, Church of England

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).