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 473

District of Turanga Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar Graham L. Greenwood

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

595

5 May 1890

William Marr
Sophia Susanna Parker Wells

William Marr
Sophia Susannah Parker Wells
💍 1890/2083

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

28
22

Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

5 years
5 years

The Residence of Mr John Townley at Gisborne

90/1892

5 May 1890

Revd Josiah Ward

No	595
Date of Notice	5 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Marr	Sophia Susanna Parker Wells
BDM Match (98%)	William Marr	Sophia Susannah Parker Wells
	💍 1890/2083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr John Townley at Gisborne
Folio	90/1892
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd Josiah Ward

596

9 May 1890

Thomas Galloway
Margaret McAskic

Thomas Galloway
Margaret McAskie
💍 1890/2084

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

31
23

Turilian, Poverty Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

7 years
9 months

St Andrews Church at Gisborne

90/1893

9 May 1890

Revd Josiah Ward

No	596
Date of Notice	9 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Galloway	Margaret McAskic
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Galloway	Margaret McAskie
	💍 1890/2084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Turilian, Poverty Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church at Gisborne
Folio	90/1893
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd Josiah Ward

597

28 May 1890

Charles Henry Single
Alice Laylor

Charles Henry Single
Alice Taylor
💍 1890/1025

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

21
18

Ormond, Poverty Bay
Ormond, Poverty Bay

2 years
4 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

90/1101

Declaration made that no person in the Colony having authority to consent to marriage.

28 May 1890

The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	597
Date of Notice	28 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Single	Alice Laylor
BDM Match (96%)	Charles Henry Single	Alice Taylor
	💍 1890/1025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Ormond, Poverty Bay	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	90/1101
Consent	Declaration made that no person in the Colony having authority to consent to marriage.
Date of Certificate	28 May 1890
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

598

16 May 1890

Peter Alexander Aitcheson Cockburn
Louisa Stuart

Peter Alexander Aitcheson Cockburn
Louisa Studd
💍 1890/1023

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

34
32

Whangara, Poverty Bay
Whangara, Poverty Bay

5 1/2 years
6 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

90/1099

16 May 1890

The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	598
Date of Notice	16 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Alexander Aitcheson Cockburn	Louisa Stuart
BDM Match (88%)	Peter Alexander Aitcheson Cockburn	Louisa Studd
	💍 1890/1023
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Whangara, Poverty Bay	Whangara, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	90/1099
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1890
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

599

20 May 1890

Braidwood Thomas Higgins
Alice Maud Skillicorn

Braidwood Thomas Higgins
Alice Maude Skillicorn
💍 1890/1027

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
20

Ormond, Poverty Bay
Ormond, Poverty Bay

11 years
16 years

Holy Trinity Church at Gisborne

90/1104

Abraham Skillicorn, Father of Minor

20 May 1890

Revd Allen Francis Gardiner

No	599
Date of Notice	20 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Braidwood Thomas Higgins	Alice Maud Skillicorn
BDM Match (98%)	Braidwood Thomas Higgins	Alice Maude Skillicorn
	💍 1890/1027
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Ormond, Poverty Bay	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church at Gisborne
Folio	90/1104
Consent	Abraham Skillicorn, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	20 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Revd Allen Francis Gardiner

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).