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 1404

District of 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
415	23 November 1889	Peter Allan Lumley Margaret Gibson Allan	Peter Allan Dunn Margaret Gibson Allan 💍 1889/3194	Bachelor Spinster	Woolsorter Dressmaker	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 2 years	James House of Rev. J. Houlie, Worcester Street	89/3263		23 November 1889	Rev. J. Houlie, Presbyterian
416	25 November 1889	James Iversen Isabella Wallace	James Wilson Elizabeth Wallace 💍 1889/2860	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 23	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 1 week	Presbyterian Manse	89/3195		25 November 1889	Rev. T. R. Munro, Presbyterian
417	27 November 1889	Erich Carl Moritz Mary Hannah Power	Erich Carl Alwin Rank Mary Johannah Power 💍 1889/3079	Bachelor Spinster	Woolscourer	32 27	Ohoka Christchurch	10 years 5 months	Roman Catholic Church Kaiapoi	89/3168		27 November 1889	Rev. Stephen Cumming, Roman Catholic
418	29 November 1889	James Savage Lois Cook	James Savage Lois Cook 💍 1889/3169	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Machinist	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	24 years 5 years	St. Saviour's Church	89/3236	Thomas Collins Cook, Father	29 November 1889	Rev. H. B. Cocks, Church of England
419	29 November 1889	Alexander McArthur Jessie McArthur	Alexander Mathieson Jessie McArthur 💍 1889/3139	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	44 33	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 6 months	House of Mr. John McArthur	89/3205		29 November 1889	Rev. W. R. Campbell, Presbyterian
420	30 November 1889	Michael Downey Jemima Campion	Michael Downey Jemima Campion 💍 1889/3206	Bachelor Spinster	Farm labourer	23 28	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 28 years	Registrar's Office	89/3251		30 November 1889	Registrar of Marriages J. W. Parkerson
421	4 December 1889	Washington Richard Ruth Woodward	Washington Richard Webb Ruth Woodward 💍 1889/3179	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	39 27	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 years	House of John Rapley	89/3224		4 December 1889	Rev. W. Ready, Bible Christian
422	5 December 1889	Henry Joseph Raphael Hannah Davis	Henry Joseph Raphael Hannah Davis 💍 1889/3191	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	31 26	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 13 years	House of Mrs. Leach, Gloucester St.	89/3260		5 December 1889	Rev. A. J. Chadowski, Hebrew

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).