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 538

District of Masterton 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
13	3 April 1890	Richard Evernden Annie Kemp Graham	Richard Evernden Annie Kemp Graham 💍 1890/1278	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Miller	23 23	Masterton Masterton	15 years 5 years	House of Mr John Graham, Masterton	90/1322		3 April 1890	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
14	3 April 1890	Alexander Robertson Isabella Anderson	Alexander Robertson Isabella Anderson 💍 1890/1275	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Housekeeper	36 23	Masterton Masterton	5 years 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	90/1319		3 April 1890	John Bagge, Registrar
15	5 April 1890	Dugald Macleay Jessie Wilkie	Dugald Macleay Jessie Wilkie 💍 1890/1273	Bachelor Spinster	Road Attendant, Wellington	30 21	Masterton Masterton	3 days 2 Months	House of Mr Grange, Heron, Kerepuni	90/1317		5 April 1890	Revd William Morse, Wesleyan Minister
16	5 April 1890	William Proff Elizabeth Amelia Langley	William Croft Elizabeth Amelia Langley 💍 1890/1276	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	24 21	Masterton Masterton	10 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	90/1320		5 April 1890	John Bagge, Registrar
17	5 April 1890	Angus McDonald McKenzie Elizabeth Jane Malvay	Angus McDonald McKenzie Elizabeth Jane Mulvay 💍 1890/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 19	Te White Taneru	2 years 3 years	Mr Walter Frickers House, Masterton	90/1323	Mother	5 April 1890	Revd David Fulton, Presbyterian Minister
18	7 April 1890	James Johnson Falk Mary Haskell Mackay	Johannes Johnson Falk Mary Haskell MacKay 💍 1890/1246	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 19	Masterton Masterton	8 years 10 years	Church of England, Masterton	90/1311	Father	7 April 1890	Revd W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
19	12 April 1890	Daniel Munro Amelia Atkinson	Daniel Munro Amelia Atkinson 💍 1890/1277	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	28 22	Masterton Masterton	4 Months 6 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	90/1321		12 April 1890	John Bagge, Registrar
20	15 April 1890	Ossian Paul Legardh Annie Gertrude Maud Lowes	Ollion Paul Lynch Annie Gertrude Maud Lowes 💍 1890/1256	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	29 25	Masterton Masterton	4 days 9 years	House of Mr William Lowes, Honeycroft, Kerepuni	90/1314		15 April 1890	Revd John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
21	28 April 1890	James John MacKersey Edith Dry Meredith	James John MacKersey Edith Joy Meredith 💍 1890/1247	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	34 20	Masterton Masterton	4 days 4 years	Church of England, Masterton	90/1312	Edwin Meredith, Father	28 April 1890	Revd W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
22	29 April 1890	John Thomas Fuller Minnie Ada Welch	John Thomas Fuller Minnie Ada Welch 💍 1890/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Maker	25 21	Masterton Opaki	4 days 2 years	House of Mrs R. Welch, Opaki	90/1313		29 April 1890	Revd W. E. Paige, Church of England 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 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).