Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 043

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

13 January 1890

Patrick Portland
Sarah Ann Francis

Patrick Portland McGehan
Sarah Ann Grant
💍 1890/3220

Bachelor
Spinster

Currier

25
23

Morning Side
Arch Hill

2 yrs
2 yrs

Church of St Benedict, Newton

90/56

7 January 1890

Rev. G. C. Downey, R. Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	13 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Portland	Sarah Ann Francis
BDM Match (72%)	Patrick Portland McGehan	Sarah Ann Grant
	💍 1890/3220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Currier
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Morning Side	Arch Hill
Length of Residence	2 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of St Benedict, Newton
Folio	90/56
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Downey, R. Catholic

14 January 1890

Thomas Nathaniel Baker
Ellen Comrie

Thomas Nathaniel Baker
Ellen Comrie
💍 1890/261

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

54
44

Avondale
Kyber Pass

20 yrs
20 yrs

Registrar's Office

90/112

8 January 1890

J. Owen Lord, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Nathaniel Baker	Ellen Comrie
	💍 1890/261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	54	44
Dwelling Place	Avondale	Kyber Pass
Length of Residence	20 yrs	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	90/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1890
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord, Registrar

15 January 1890

Charles Augustus Wilson
Emma Lillian Holzen

Charles Augustus Watson
Emma Lillian Fortzer
💍 1890/194

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman

26
24

Auckland
Auckland

28 yrs
20 yrs

Dwelling of Mr. Biarcle Holzen, Hobson St

90/91

8 January 1890

Rev. R. F. Maenicol, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	15 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Augustus Wilson	Emma Lillian Holzen
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Augustus Watson	Emma Lillian Fortzer
	💍 1890/194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 yrs	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Biarcle Holzen, Hobson St
Folio	90/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Maenicol, Presbyterian

16 January 1890

George Thomas Brackenridge
Charlotte Bracewell

George Thomas Brakenridge
Charlotte Bracewell
💍 1890/161

Bachelor
Widow

Railway Employee

35
35

Cambridge
Parnell

9 yrs
10 yrs

Dwelling of Mrs. Charlotte Bracewell, Alma Place

90/49

9 January 1890

Rev. A. Carrick, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	16 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Brackenridge	Charlotte Bracewell
BDM Match (98%)	George Thomas Brakenridge	Charlotte Bracewell
	💍 1890/161
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Parnell
Length of Residence	9 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs. Charlotte Bracewell, Alma Place
Folio	90/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Carrick, Presbyterian

17 January 1890

Richard Louis Francis
James He Thierry

Bachelor
Spinster

Native Interpreter

64
40

Auckland
Wellington

40 yrs
27 yrs

Dwelling of Francis James

90/105

10 January 1890

Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, Ch of England

No	17
Date of Notice	17 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Louis Francis	James He Thierry
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Native Interpreter
Age	64	40
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington
Length of Residence	40 yrs	27 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Francis James
Folio	90/105
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, Ch of England

18 January 1890

William Edward Sexton
Ida Maria Bushill

William Edward Sexton
Ada Maria Bushill
💍 1890/211

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
25

Newton
Arch Hill

26 yrs
25 yrs

Dwelling of Sargent & Bushill, Arch Hill, Auckland

90/86

10 January 1890

Rev. D. F. Lewis, Cong. Indepdt

No	18
Date of Notice	18 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Sexton	Ida Maria Bushill
BDM Match (97%)	William Edward Sexton	Ada Maria Bushill
	💍 1890/211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Newton	Arch Hill
Length of Residence	26 yrs	25 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Sargent & Bushill, Arch Hill, Auckland
Folio	90/86
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. F. Lewis, Cong. Indepdt

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).