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 590

District of Buller 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
503	5 April 1890	Alexander Henderson Elizabeth Rathbon	Alexander Henderson Lennie Elizabeth Rathbon 💍 1890/1824	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Dressmaker	21 18	Westport Westport	18 months at residence of Thomas Rathbon 14 years	Residence of Thomas Rathbon, Westport	90/1425	Thomas Rathbon, Father	5 April 1890	James Wrigley
504	10 April 1890	John Mears Mary Ann McConnell	John Mears Mary Ann McConnell 💍 1890/1822	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic Servant	28 26	Westport Westport	1 week at residence of John Burns McConnell 2 years	Residence of John Burns McConnell, Westport	90/1423		10 April 1890	Thomas Walsh
505	12 April 1890	George Burns Margaret Wilson Thompson	George Burns Margaret Wilson Thompson 💍 1890/1826	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Shopgirl	33 22	Denniston Denniston	3 years at the house of Hugh Thompson 2 years	The house of Hugh Thompson, Westport	90/1427		12 April 1890	James Wrigley
506	25 April 1890	William Henry Bevan Sarah Jane Scott	William Henry Bevan Sarah Jane Scott 💍 1890/1825	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Dressmaker	22 21	Westport Westport	6 years at Residence of James Bevan 3 years	Residence of James Bevan, Westport	90/1426		25 April 1890	James Wrigley
507	25 April 1890	James Henry Waller Annie Orr	James Henry Waller Annie Orr 💍 1890/1829	Bachelor Spinster	Miner General Servant	44 24	Westport Westport	26 years 16 months	Registrars Office, Westport	90/1429		25 April 1890	Registrar
508	29 April 1890	Joseph Lambert Mary Peters	Joseph Lambert Mary Peters 💍 1890/1830	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer General Servant	23 21	Westport Cape Foulwind	3 months 3 years	Registrars Office, Westport	90/1430		29 April 1890	Registrar
509	6 May 1890	Joseph William Armstrong Lady Cook	Joseph William Armstrong Sadie Cook 💍 1890/1827	Widower Spinster	Baker Dressmaker	29 24	Westport Westport	9 months at residence of Mrs Lady Cook 3 years	Residence of Mrs Lady Cook, Westport	90/1428		6 May 1890	James E. Cullen
510	4 June 1890	William Paul Kindall Annie Elizabeth Gowland	William Paul Kendall Annie Elizabeth Gowland 💍 1890/2096	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Music Teacher	38 25	Westport Westport	3 days 12 months	Church of England, Westport	90/1924		4 June 1890	James E. Cullen
511	11 June 1890	William Edwin Minthorn Sarah Jane Ashton	William Edwin Mintrom Sarah Jane Ashton 💍 1890/1823	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Tailoress	24 21	Waimangarara Waimangarara	4 months at residence of William Edwin Minthorn, Waimangarara 3 days	Residence of William Edwin Minthorn, Waimangarara	90/1424		11 June 1890	Thomas Anson Bates
512	16 June 1890	George Johnston Agnes Stewart Leslie Fleming	George Johnston Agnes Stewart Leslie Fleming 💍 1890/2732	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	30 21	Westport Westport	7 days 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Westport	90/2762		16 June 1890	Henry Burn Bunnell

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).