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 507

District of Rangitikei 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
2	18 March 1890	David Insoll Tucker Barbara Gibb	David Insoll Tucker Barbara Gibb 💍 1890/3669	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Hunterville Hunterville	2 years 2 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	90/1188	Proper person in colony having authority to give consent	3 April 1890	F. M. Leighton, Registrar
3	28 March 1890	John James McDonald Sarah Train	John James McDonald Sarah Train 💍 1890/3806	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	31 21	Marton Marton	25 years 1 year	The house of Mr. McDonald, Marton	90/1181		28 March 1890	Rev. W. Gordon, Presbyterian
4	9 April 1890	Arthur Millett Hockly Eliza Annie Pearson	Arthur Milett Hockly Edith Annie Pearson 💍 1890/1150	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Turakina Turakina	3 years 9 years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Marton	90/1189		9 April 1890	F. M. Leighton, Registrar
5	16 April 1890	Francis Joseph Ellery Sarah Elizabeth Harper	Francis Joseph Ellery Sarah Elizabeth Harper 💍 1890/1140	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Bulls Bulls	3 years 16 years	The house of Mr. and family Harper, near Bulls	90/1183	Sarah Harper, Mother	16 April 1890	Rev. J. Doull, Presbyterian
6	28 April 1890	Peter Dodds Hogg Elizabeth Mary McDonald	Peter Dodds Hogg Elizabeth Mary McDonald 💍 1890/2726	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 22	Turakina Turakina	3 days 3 days	The Presbyterian Church, Turakina	90/2757		28 April 1890	Rev. John Ross, Presbyterian
7	29 April 1890	James Mills Elizabeth Mary Cole	James Wills Elizabeth Mary Cole 💍 1890/3636	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 24	Bulls Bulls	15 months 15 years	The Presbyterian Manse, Bulls	90/1184		29 April 1890	Rev. J. Doull, Presbyterian
8	3 May 1890	Samuel Henry Bartlett Ellen Thoms	Samuel Henry Bartlett Ellen Thoms 💍 1890/3635	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 22	Parakaretu Porewa	3 years 22 years	The house of Mr. Charles Thoms, Porewa	90/1180		3 May 1890	Rev. Thos. Fee, Wesleyan
9	5 May 1890	Mark Blake Fanny Orchard	Mark Blake Fanny Orchard 💍 1890/3637	Widower Widow	Shepherd Housekeeper	60 50	Heaton Park Bulls	8 years 9 months	The house occupied by Mark Blake, Heaton Park	90/1185		5 May 1890	Rev. J. Doull, Presbyterian
10	12 May 1890	Samuel Percy Lethbridge Catherine Duff Ross	Bennet Perry Lethbridge Catherine Duff Ross 💍 1890/2725	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Turakina Turakina	24 years 18 years	The Presbyterian Church, Turakina	90/2756		12 May 1890	Rev. J. Ross, Presbyterian
11	17 May 1890	Thomas William Dower Margaret Wilhelmina Ainsworth Morrison	Thomas William Downes Margaret Wilhelmina Naismith Thomson 💍 1890/3638	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker	23 27	Bulls Bulls	9 years 8 years	The house of Mr. Andrew Thomson, Bulls	90/1186		17 May 1890	Rev. J. Doull, Presbyterian

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).