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 252

District of Christchurch 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
79	10 March 1890	David Boyd Margaret Elen Gibson	David Boyd Margaret Eliza Gibson 💍 1890/463	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	90/558		10 March 1890	Registrar of Marriages J M Paulkerson
80	10 March 1890	Robert Crawford Margaret Subman	Robert Crawford Margaretta Tubman 💍 1890/401	Bachelor Spinster	Constable [illegible]	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	House of Robt Subman	90/533		10 March 1890	Revd C. H. Standage, Wesleyan
81	11 March 1890	James Bryden Annie Clara McDonald	James Bayden Annie Clara McDonald 💍 1890/403	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 3 days	St. Saviours Church	90/535		11 March 1890	Revd H. B. Cocks, Church of England
82	11 March 1890	James Smith Kate Lillian Burleigh	James Smith Kate Lillian Burleigh 💍 1890/94	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Tailoress	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 11 years	St. Marys Church Merivale	90/506		12 March 1890	Revd Thomas Hawell, Church of England
83	12 March 1890	Alfred Colber Ellen Robinson	Walter Butler Ellen Robinson 💍 1890/704	Widower Spinster	Cab Owner [illegible]	40 24	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 14 years	Registrars Office	90/559		12 March 1890	Registrar of Marriages J M Paulkerson
84	12 March 1890	James Gimblett Minnie Marion Timms	James Gimblett Minnie Marion 💍 1890/120	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Tailoress	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 8 months	Bible Christian Church Belfast	90/481	Elizabeth Timms, mother	12 March 1890	Revd B. H. Hinger, Bible Christian
85	12 March 1890	Henry Curteus Franklin Jackson Daily Jane Madden		Bachelor Spinster	Postal Officer Tailoress	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 15 years	St. Michaels Church	90/504		12 March 1890	Revd W. Harper, Church of England
86	13 March 1890	James Goggin Helen Isabella Harper	James Goggin Helen Isabella Harper 💍 1890/377	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Tailoress	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 21 years	St. Marys Roman Catholic Church	90/471		13 March 1890	Revd M. Mamane, Roman Catholic

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).