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 266

District of Ashburton 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
626	2 January 1890	John Bryan Harritt Charlotte Barley	John Bryan Harriett Charlotte Bailey 💍 1890/486	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 18	Ashburton Hinds	4 years 14 years	Wesleyan Church	90/587	Philip Barley, father	6 January 1890	Revd. J. N. Brittle
627	3 January 1890	Thomas King Mary Templeton Hamilton	Thomas King Mary Templeton Hamilton 💍 1890/487	Widower Spinster	Farmer Spinster	39 32	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 10 years	Private Dwellinghouse of George Hamilton	90/588		3 January 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
628	4 January 1890	William Cochrane Skilling Lucy Ede	William Cochrane Skilling Lucy Ede 💍 1890/3063	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	20 20	Tinwald Wakanui	9 months 2 years	Private Dwellinghouse at Springburn	90/593	James Skilling & Benjamin Ede, fathers	5 January 1890	Revd. W. Finlayson
629	7 January 1890	Andrew Jerras Eliza Jane Porter	Andrew Terras Eliza Jane Porter 💍 1890/3548	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Spinster	25 18	Hinds Hinds	3 years 6 months	St. Stephens Ch.	90/3814	William Porter, father	13 January 1890	Revd. E. A. Escutt
630	11 January 1890	George Henry Allison Flora Maria Elizabeth Lemon	George Henry Allison Flora Maria Elizabeth Lennon 💍 1890/3062	Bachelor Spinster	Living Stable Keeper Spinster	24 21	Methven Lauriston	7 years 4 years	Private Dwellinghouse of James Lemon	90/585		11 January 1890	Revd. W. Finlayson
631	23 January 1890	Mark Hope Caroline Bruhn	Mark Hope Caroline Bruhu 💍 1890/488	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright Spinster	27 28	Ashburton Ashburton	5 months 5 months	Panama Boarding House, kept by John Stribley	90/589		23 January 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
632	17 February 1890	James Campbell Ruth Pawle	James Campbell Ruth Sawle 💍 1890/2869	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Spinster	33 27	Barford, Hinds Tinwald	7 weeks 7 years	Private dwellinghouse of Revd. J. M. Pawle at Tinwald	90/586		17 February 1890	Revd. James Wright Pawle
633	7 March 1890	William Frederic Allen Margaret Jordan	William Frederic Allen Margaret Jordan 💍 1890/489	Widower Spinster	Stock-dealer Spinster	48 29	Ashburton Ashburton	12 years 2 years	Private dwellinghouse of John Henry Brookes at Ashburton	90/590		7 March 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
634	7 March 1890	Albert Crum Maggie Scott	Albert Crum Maggie Scott 💍 1890/490	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Dressmaker	25 23	Hampstead Ashburton	10 years 12 years	Presbyterian Church	90/591		7 March 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
635	10 March 1890	William Paterson Elizabeth Lermor	William Paterson Elizabeth Lermor 💍 1890/492	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Cook	36 27	Ashburton Forks Westerfield	14 years 5 months	Presbyterian Church	90/592		10 March 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie

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).