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 655

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar William Manaphan

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

5 April 1890

John Newton
Sarah Ann Cousens

John Newton
Sarah Ann Cousens
💍 1890/1891

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
26 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

27 years
10 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Lyttelton

90/1600

5 April 1890

Rev. F. Gotham, Anglican Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	5 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Newton	Sarah Ann Cousens
	💍 1890/1891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	27 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1600
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Gotham, Anglican Minister

12 May 1890

Hugh Andrews Gilmore
Mary Susannah Miller

Hugh Andrews Gilmore
Mary Susannah Miller
💍 1890/1892

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

25 years
21 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

5 years
20 years

House of William Miller, Exeter Street, Lyttelton

90/1601

12 May 1890

Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	12 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Andrews Gilmore	Mary Susannah Miller
	💍 1890/1892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of William Miller, Exeter Street, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1601
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan Minister

5 June 1890

Charles Alfred Bryant
Mary Ann Wagner

Charles Alfred Bryant
Mary Ann Wagner
💍 1890/1893

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21 years
17 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

10 days
3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton

90/1602

Margaret Wagner, mother

5 June 1890

William Manaphan, Registrar of Marriages

No	11
Date of Notice	5 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alfred Bryant	Mary Ann Wagner
	💍 1890/1893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	10 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1602
Consent	Margaret Wagner, mother
Date of Certificate	5 June 1890
Officiating Minister	William Manaphan, Registrar of Marriages

5 June 1890

William Henry Hollis
Annie O'Neill

William Henry Holliss
Annie O'Neill
💍 1890/1894

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

21 years
22 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

21 years
22 years

House of William Henry Hollis, Canterbury Street, Lyttelton

90/1603

5 June 1890

Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	5 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hollis	Annie O'Neill
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Holliss	Annie O'Neill
	💍 1890/1894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of William Henry Hollis, Canterbury Street, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister

9 June 1890

James Payne
Maria Jane Cole

James Payne
Maria Jane Cole
💍 1890/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Dressmaker

20 years
19 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

20 years
18 years

House of Thomas Draper, Summer Road, Lyttelton

90/1604

Declaration under sec 27, John Cole, father

24 June 1890

Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	13
Date of Notice	9 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Payne	Maria Jane Cole
	💍 1890/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Dressmaker
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Thomas Draper, Summer Road, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1604
Consent	Declaration under sec 27, John Cole, father
Date of Certificate	24 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister

24 June 1890

Frank Walter Arnold
Katharine Dempsie

Frank Walter Arnold
Katharine Dempsie
💍 1890/2480

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27 years
20 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

27 years
20 years

House of F. C. Dempsie, Fitzgerald Street, Lyttelton

90/2516

F. C. Dempsie, father

24 June 1890

Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan Minister

No	14
Date of Notice	24 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Walter Arnold	Katharine Dempsie
	💍 1890/2480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of F. C. Dempsie, Fitzgerald Street, Lyttelton
Folio	90/2516
Consent	F. C. Dempsie, father
Date of Certificate	24 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Tinsley, Wesleyan Minister

24 June 1890

Charles Brown Greggs
Margaret Craig
formerly Wilson M.N.

Charles Brown Greggs
Margaret Craig
💍 1890/1896

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman

44 years
36 years

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

25 years
5 years

House of Charles Brown Greggs, London Street, Lyttelton

90/1605

24 June 1890

Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	15
Date of Notice	24 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brown Greggs	Margaret Craig formerly Wilson M.N.
	💍 1890/1896
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman
Age	44 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Charles Brown Greggs, London Street, Lyttelton
Folio	90/1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Mackenzie, Presbyterian 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 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).