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 105

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Sydney Henry James

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

6 January 1890

James Baxter
Jane Campbell King

James Baxter Paton
Jane Campbell King
💍 1890/3645

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

24
19

Stratford
Stratford

4 years
4 years

In the residence of William King

90/203

William King, Father

6 January 1890

Rev. J. Mc Intosh, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baxter	Jane Campbell King
BDM Match (83%)	James Baxter Paton	Jane Campbell King
	💍 1890/3645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of William King
Folio	90/203
Consent	William King, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mc Intosh, Presbyterian

24 January 1890

William Riley
Elizabeth Alice Hawke

William Riley
Elizabeth Alice Hawke
💍 1890/3648

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

24
20

Eltham
Eltham

3 years
8 years Hawke at Eltham

In the residence of Robert Thomas

90/207

R. T. Hawke, father

24 January 1890

Rev. I. N. Griffin, Wesleyan Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Riley	Elizabeth Alice Hawke
	💍 1890/3648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years Hawke at Eltham
Marriage Place	In the residence of Robert Thomas
Folio	90/207
Consent	R. T. Hawke, father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. N. Griffin, Wesleyan Methodist

13 February 1890

Martin Petrie
Grace Bouttell

Martin Petrie
Grace Bouttell
💍 1890/315

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

35
24

Egmont Lodge, Mangorei
New Plymouth

12 years
6 months Salisbury Road, Midhirst

At the residence of William Margons

90/201

13 February 1890

Rev. H. H. Brown, Ch. of England

No	3
Date of Notice	13 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Petrie	Grace Bouttell
	💍 1890/315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Egmont Lodge, Mangorei	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	12 years	6 months Salisbury Road, Midhirst
Marriage Place	At the residence of William Margons
Folio	90/201
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Brown, Ch. of England

15 March 1890

Alexander Henry Williamson
Nelly Maria Taylor

Alexander Henry Williamson
Lilly Maria Taylor
💍 1890/3646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
26

Kakaramea
Eltham

15 years
4 weeks Taylor at Eltham

In the residence of George Washington

90/204

15 March 1890

Rev. I. Mc Intosh, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	15 March 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henry Williamson	Nelly Maria Taylor
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Henry Williamson	Lilly Maria Taylor
	💍 1890/3646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Kakaramea	Eltham
Length of Residence	15 years	4 weeks Taylor at Eltham
Marriage Place	In the residence of George Washington
Folio	90/204
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Mc Intosh, Presbyterian

24 March 1890

Samuel Vickers
Alice Wright

Samuel Vickers
Alice Wright
💍 1890/3647

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
18

Midhirst
Midhirst

6 years
8 years

The office of the Registrar

90/206

S. H. James, Father

25 March 1890

Registrar Stratford

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Vickers	Alice Wright
	💍 1890/3647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar
Folio	90/206
Consent	S. H. James, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1890
Officiating Minister	Registrar Stratford

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).