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 401

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 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
9	22 April 1890	William James Donnelly Charlotte Helen Dennis	William James Donnelly Charlotte Helen Dinnip 💍 1890/837	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 19	Kamo Kamo	5 years Residence 19 years Residence	Residence of	90/940		22 April 1890	Revd. I. Thomas, Wesleyan
10	8 May 1890	Thomas Sullion Elizabeth Gertrude Porter	Thomas Sutton Elizabeth Gertrude Porter 💍 1890/836	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	28 24	Whangarei Whangarei	5 days Residence 9 years Residence		90/939		8 May 1890	Revd. I. Thomas, Wesleyan
11	9 May 1890	Oliver Cotterill Minnie Tibbutt	Oliver Catterill Minnie Tebbutt 💍 1890/3617	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Hikurangi Maungatapere	2 years Residence 5 years Residence		90/941		9 May 1890	Registrar
12	10 May 1890	Robert Scott Marie Eliza Viette	Robert Scott Maria Eliza Viatte 💍 1890/831	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 30	Parua Bay Waiatarata	29 years Residence 5 years Residence		90/933		10 May 1890	Jas. J. Hawk, Presbyterian
13	10 May 1890	John East Catherine McBert	John Cork Catherine McBeth 💍 1890/830 John Hastie Catherine Dawson 💍 1891/3219 John Candy Catherine OConnell 💍 1890/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	40 26	Kamohohore Apotu	20 years Residence 26 years Residence		90/952		10 May 1890	Jas. J. Hawk, Presbyterian
14	21 May 1890	John James Thorburn Harriet King	John James Thorburn Hannah King 💍 1890/3615	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Ruatangata Ruatangata	3 years Residence 20 years Residence	Christchurch	90/934		21 May 1890	Revd. I. Thomas, Wesleyan
15	30 May 1890	Henry Hockin Johanna Dennis Hickson	Harry Hockin Johanna Munro Wilson 💍 1890/3616	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	26 21	Whangarei Maungatapere	4 days Residence 3 years Residence		90/937		30 May 1890	Revd. L. L. Cubitt, Presbyterian
16	3 June 1890	James Thomas Josket Coy Mary Alice Armstrong	James Thomas Gastick Cox Mary Alice Armstrong 💍 1890/832	Bachelor Spinster	School Teacher	20 20	Whangarei Whangarei	8 years Residence 8 years Residence	Whangarei	90/941	J. H. Scott (father of bride)	3 June 1890	Revd. J. H. Hawk, Presbyterian
17	30 June 1890	Hugh Clyde McGrady Agnes Rebecca Buchanan	Hugh Clyde McCready Agnes Rebecca Buchanan 💍 1890/2806	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	29 24	Whangarei Whangarei	4 days Residence 4 days Residence	Residence of J. Jackson	90/2769		30 June 1890	Revd. I. Thomas, Wesleyan

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).