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 304

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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

28 January 1890

Walter John Ashby
Janet Baines

Walter John Ashby
Janet Baines
💍 1890/753

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28 years
33 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 days
10 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

90/733

28 January 1890

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	28
Date of Notice	28 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Ashby	Janet Baines
	💍 1890/753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	90/733
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1890
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

29 January 1890

William McGavin Muir
Lizzie Thompson

William McGavin Muir
Lizzie Thompson Harrison
💍 1890/602

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

30 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
7 years

In the house of Imminary Harrison, George Street

90/677

29 January 1890

Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

No	29
Date of Notice	29 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McGavin Muir	Lizzie Thompson
BDM Match (81%)	William McGavin Muir	Lizzie Thompson Harrison
	💍 1890/602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Imminary Harrison, George Street
Folio	90/677
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

1 February 1890

Thomas Simon
Edith Mathews

Thomas Simon
Edith Matthews
💍 1890/578

Widower
Spinster

Boot Importer

31 years
29 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
25 years

In the house of John Mathews, George Street

90/655

1 February 1890

Revd A. North, Baptist Minister

No	30
Date of Notice	1 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Simon	Edith Mathews
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Simon	Edith Matthews
	💍 1890/578
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boot Importer
Age	31 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Mathews, George Street
Folio	90/655
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd A. North, Baptist Minister

1 February 1890

William Charles Hiles
Ellen Williams

William Charles Niles
Ellen Williams
💍 1890/596

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

33 years
28 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

2 months
14 days

In Knox Church

90/694

1 February 1890

Revd Dr Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	31
Date of Notice	1 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Hiles	Ellen Williams
BDM Match (98%)	William Charles Niles	Ellen Williams
	💍 1890/596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	33 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	14 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	90/694
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

3 February 1890

James Fleming
Margaret Nelson

James Fleming
Margaret Nelson
💍 1890/603

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
9 years

In the house of Mrs Eliza Wallace, Maclaggan Street

90/678

3 February 1890

Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

No	32
Date of Notice	3 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fleming	Margaret Nelson
	💍 1890/603
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Eliza Wallace, Maclaggan Street
Folio	90/678
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

3 February 1890

George Theodore Henry
Elizabeth Reid

George Theodore Fleury
Elizabeth Reid
💍 1890/594

Widower
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

30 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

30 years
13 years

In Knox Church

90/693

3 February 1890

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages, Revd Dr Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	3 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Theodore Henry	Elizabeth Reid
BDM Match (93%)	George Theodore Fleury	Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1890/594
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	30 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	90/693
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1890
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages, Revd Dr Stuart, 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 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).