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 173

District of Quarter ending 31 March 1890

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
165	7 January 1890	Alfred Moffat-Smith Annie Dicken Campbell	Alfred Moffat Smith Annie Dickson Campbell 💍 1890/502	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager Domestic	28 24	Rissington Poukawa	2 years 18 years	Residence of Hugh Campbell, Poukawa	90/364		7 January 1890	Revd. David Sidey, Presbyterian Minister
166	25 January 1890	Henry Collins Winifred Hunt	Henry Collins Winnfred Hunt 💍 1890/757	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic	35 26	Hastings Napier	14 years 20 years	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	90/378		25 January 1890	Revd. Father Geogan, Roman Catholic Minister
167	7 February 1890	Thomas Hannigan Annie O'Neill	Thomas Lannigan Annie Oneill 💍 1890/3654 James Lanigan Theresa O'Neill 💍 1890/2335	Bachelor Spinster	Barman Domestic	28 22	Hastings Hastings	5 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings	90/363		7 February 1890	Revd. Father Smythe, Roman Catholic Minister
168	19 February 1890	William Henry Compton Harriett Morgan	William Henry Compton Harriett Morgan 💍 1890/1281 William Henry Hawken Mary Edith Morgan 💍 1890/2470	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer Domestic	23 20	Hastings Hastings	3 years 4 years	Church of England, Havelock	90/1354	Emily Jane Steven, sister of Bride	19 February 1890	Revd. J. Townsend, Episcopalian Minister
169	21 February 1890	Sween McPhee Julia McDonald	Sween McPhee Julia McDonald 💍 1890/501	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic	33 29	Maraekakaho Maraekakaho	6 years 3 years	Residence of Mr. McLean, Maraekakaho	90/362		21 February 1890	Revd. R. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister
170	22 February 1890	David McLeod Lizzie Robertson	David McLeod Elizabeth Robertson 💍 1890/522	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	23 21	Hastings Hastings	3 days 7 years	Presbyterian Church, Hastings	90/361		22 February 1890	Revd. R. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister
171	22 March 1890	William Musson Eliza Barry	William Megsen Eliza Barry 💍 1890/756	Bachelor Widow	Cook Domestic	52 57	Hastings Hastings	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office, Hastings	90/877		22 March 1890	William O. McLeod, Registrar
172	24 March 1890	David Carswell Ada Williams	David Carswell Ada Williams 💍 1890/521	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	30 23	Hastings Hastings	4 days 2 weeks	Residence of Mr. Carswell, Hastings	90/360		24 March 1890	Revd. R. Fraser, Presbyterian Minister

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).