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 085

District of Turanga Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Graham Lord Cuningham

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

584

9 January 1890

Edward Toole
Mary Ann O'Halloran

Edward Toole
Mary Ann O'Halloraen
💍 1890/293

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

36
27

Rangatira, Poverty Bay
Rangatira, Poverty Bay

6 years
6 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

90/177

9 January 1890

The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

No	584
Date of Notice	9 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Toole	Mary Ann O'Halloran
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Toole	Mary Ann O'Halloraen
	💍 1890/293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Rangatira, Poverty Bay	Rangatira, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	90/177
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1890
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

585

15 January 1890

Richard Scragg
Ann Greaves

Richard Scragg
Ann Greaves
💍 1890/2087

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
21

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

15 years
14 years

The Presbyterian Church at Matawhero

90/197

15 January 1890

The Revd John Elliot Fox

No	585
Date of Notice	15 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Scragg	Ann Greaves
	💍 1890/2087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church at Matawhero
Folio	90/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1890
Officiating Minister	The Revd John Elliot Fox

586

18 January 1890

Robert Craill Jr.
Sarah Ann Ritchie

Robert Craill
Sarah Ann Ritchie
💍 1890/2088

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Hotelkeeper

25
26

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

10 years
4 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

90/198

18 January 1890

The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

No	586
Date of Notice	18 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Craill Jr.	Sarah Ann Ritchie
BDM Match (88%)	Robert Craill	Sarah Ann Ritchie
	💍 1890/2088
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Hotelkeeper
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	90/198
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1890
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

587

15 February 1890

Henry Wilson
Julia Elizabeth Hooper

Henry Wilson
Julia Elizabeth Hooper
💍 1890/314

Widower
Spinster

Farm Labourer

30
23

Kaiti, Poverty Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

4 years
18 years

Holy Trinity Church at Gisborne

90/180

15 February 1890

The Revd J Elliot Fox

No	587
Date of Notice	15 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilson	Julia Elizabeth Hooper
	💍 1890/314
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Poverty Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Gisborne
Folio	90/180
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1890
Officiating Minister	The Revd J Elliot Fox

588

19 February 1890

George Smale
Lucy Schumacher

George Smale
Lucy Schumacher
💍 1890/318

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
22

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

2 1/2 years
3 days

The residence of Mr George Smale at North Gisborne

90/182

19 February 1890

The Revd Josiah Ward

No	588
Date of Notice	19 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smale	Lucy Schumacher
	💍 1890/318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr George Smale at North Gisborne
Folio	90/182
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1890
Officiating Minister	The Revd Josiah Ward

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).