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 375

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar John Winstanley Wilkin

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

William James Valentine Bull
Isabella Richmond

William James Valentine Bull
Isabella Richmond
💍 1890/677

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

27
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 years
20 years

Office of the Registrar

90/799

Richard Richmond, father

6 January 1890

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Valentine Bull	Isabella Richmond
	💍 1890/677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	90/799
Consent	Richard Richmond, father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1890
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

9 January 1890

Alexander Watson
Bridget Fahey

Alexander Watson
Bridget Fahey
💍 1890/679

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

27
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 days
5 years

Office of the Registrar

90/800

9 January 1890

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Watson	Bridget Fahey
	💍 1890/679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	90/800
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1890
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

11 January 1890

Edward Cornelius Bone
Mary Reid

Edward Cornelius Bone
Mary Reid
💍 1890/657

Bachelor
Spinster

Digger

27
20

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
1 month

Roman Catholic Church

90/784

Michael Reid, father

11 January 1890

Rev J. Murphy

No	3
Date of Notice	11 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Cornelius Bone	Mary Reid
	💍 1890/657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Digger
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	90/784
Consent	Michael Reid, father
Date of Certificate	11 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Murphy

13 January 1890

George Gibbs
Martha Margaret Sparrows

George Gibbs
Martha Margaret Sparrow
💍 1890/674

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

14 days
1 month

House of Rev Jas Guy

90/794

Charles Jeremiah Sparrows, father

13 January 1890

Rev Jas Guy

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gibbs	Martha Margaret Sparrows
BDM Match (98%)	George Gibbs	Martha Margaret Sparrow
	💍 1890/674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	14 days	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Rev Jas Guy
Folio	90/794
Consent	Charles Jeremiah Sparrows, father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Guy

20 January 1890

William Allison
Mary Jane McCreath

William Allison
Mary Jane McCreath
💍 1890/686

Widower
Spinster

Tailor

29
18

Invercargill
East Invercargill

15 years
18 years

House of Rev John Ferguson

90/785

Thomas McCreath, father

20 January 1890

Rev John Ferguson

No	5
Date of Notice	20 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allison	Mary Jane McCreath
	💍 1890/686
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	East Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev John Ferguson
Folio	90/785
Consent	Thomas McCreath, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson

20 January 1890

Thomas Curtis Swale
Dorothy Sutherland

Thomas Curtis Swale
Dorothy Sutherland
💍 1890/608

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

22
26

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
9 years

Office of the Registrar

90/801

20 January 1890

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	20 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Curtis Swale	Dorothy Sutherland
	💍 1890/608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	90/801
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1890
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

20 January 1890

William Cosgrove
Catherine Brown

William Cosgrove
Catherine Brown
💍 1890/659

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
16

Invercargill
Woodlands

10 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church

90/786

Catherine Brown, brother

20 January 1890

Rev J. Murphy

No	7
Date of Notice	20 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cosgrove	Catherine Brown
	💍 1890/659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Woodlands
Length of Residence	10 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	90/786
Consent	Catherine Brown, brother
Date of Certificate	20 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Murphy

30 January 1890

Patrick Kilkelly
Mary Moylan

Patrick Kilkelly
Mary Moylan
💍 1890/754

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
General Servant

43
36

Forest Hill
Invercargill

1 year
16 years

Roman Catholic Church

90/788

30 January 1890

Rev J. Murphy

No	8
Date of Notice	30 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Kilkelly	Mary Moylan
	💍 1890/754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	General Servant
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Forest Hill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	90/788
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Murphy

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).