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 1124

District of Gore Quarter ending 30 September 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
3	17 July 1889	Peter Souness Lucy Nelson Napier	Peter Souness Lucy Wilson Napier 💍 1889/2581	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	23 24	Gore Gore	7 yrs 4 yrs	Presbyterian Church at Gordon	89/2596	3 July 1889	Rev Andrew [illegible] Presbyterian Church Gore
5	24 August 1889	John McCauliffe Norah Gardner	John McCauliffe Norah Gardner 💍 1889/2577	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Laborer	28 24	Gore Gore	9 yrs 5 months	The R.C. Church at Gordon	89/2593	5 August 1889	Rev Wm Jos [illegible] R.C. Clergyman Gore
6	18 July 1889	Daniel Edward Huntford Jane Groad	Daniel Edward Nutsford Jane Croad 💍 1889/2580	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Painter	26 19	Gore Gore	3 days 2 months	Residence of [illegible] Frederick [illegible] at Gore	89/2595	6 July 1889	Albert F [illegible] Church of Ch [illegible] Gore
10	19 July 1889	John Kelly Margaret McQuilkan	John Kelly Margaret Moynihan 💍 1889/2574	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Laborer	31 24	Mandeville Gore	7 yrs 5 yrs	The R.C. Church at Gordon	89/2590	10 July 1889	Rev Wm Jos [illegible] R.C. Clergyman Gore
13	20 July 1889	John McKibbon Jane Mary Josephine Kelly	John McRibbin Jane Mary Josephine Kelly 💍 1889/2575	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Farmer	31 23	Riversdale Riversdale	6 yrs Residence of [illegible] Inchclutha 7 yrs Kelly Riversdale		89/2591	13 July 1889	Rev Wm Jos [illegible] R.C. Clergyman Gore
17	21 July 1889	Michael Ford Mary Herwood	Michael Ford Mary Herwood 💍 1889/2576	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Farmer	25 25	Gore Gore	12 yrs 1 month	R.C. Church at Gordon	89/2592	17 July 1889	Rev Wm Jos [illegible] R.C. Clergyman Gore
22	22 July 1889	Joseph Benjamin Hildreth Ellen Gibson	Joseph Benjamin Hildreth Ellen Gibson 💍 1889/2583	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Officer Salvation Officer	28 27	Gore Gore	3 days 3 days	Town Hall at Gore	89/2598	22 July 1889	Colonel Taylor Salvation Army Gore
23	23 July 1889	Robert Boag Grace Fisken	Robert Boag Grace Fisken 💍 1889/2582	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Farmer	27 20	Gore Gore	11 yrs Residence of Jm Peter Fisken 11 yrs at Chatton		89/2597	23 July 1889	Rev Andrew [illegible] Presbyterian Church Gore

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).