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 659

District of Ellesmere Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar R. L. Lee

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

15 April 1890

Thomas Radford
Martha Jemima Rollo

Thomas Radford
Martha Jemima Rollo
💍 1890/1901

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

Sowell
Sowell

4 days
10 years

At the house of Isaac Rollo, at Sowell

90/1610

Janet Rollo (mother)

15 April 1890

Rev. F. W. Cree, Presbyterian of Leeston

No	4
Date of Notice	15 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Radford	Martha Jemima Rollo
	💍 1890/1901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Sowell	Sowell
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Isaac Rollo, at Sowell
Folio	90/1610
Consent	Janet Rollo (mother)
Date of Certificate	15 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Cree, Presbyterian of Leeston

15 April 1890

Charles Burgess Maule
Minnie Ursula Cole

Charles Burgess Mann
Minnie Ursula Cole
💍 1890/1903

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

28
27

Brookside
Brookside

5 days
8 days

In the Church of England, Brookside

90/1612

15 April 1890

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England of Leeston

No	5
Date of Notice	15 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Burgess Maule	Minnie Ursula Cole
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Burgess Mann	Minnie Ursula Cole
	💍 1890/1903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Brookside	Brookside
Length of Residence	5 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Brookside
Folio	90/1612
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England of Leeston

23 April 1890

George Alfred Ward Harris
Emily Skilling

George Alfred Ward Harris
Emily Skilling
💍 1890/1911

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
23

Lakeside
Lakeside

1 month
2 years

At the Presbyterian Manse at Southbridge

90/1613

23 April 1890

Rev. W. West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

No	6
Date of Notice	23 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Alfred Ward Harris	Emily Skilling
	💍 1890/1911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Lakeside	Lakeside
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Manse at Southbridge
Folio	90/1613
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. West, Presbyterian of Southbridge

2 May 1890

John Givens Robb
Catherine Nicholson

John Givens Robb
Catherine Nicholson
💍 1890/1902

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
23

Doyleston
Doyleston

8 years
8 years

At the house of Thomas Nicholson at Doyleston

90/1611

2 May 1890

Rev. F. W. Cree, Presbyterian of Leeston

No	7
Date of Notice	2 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Givens Robb	Catherine Nicholson
	💍 1890/1902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Doyleston	Doyleston
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Thomas Nicholson at Doyleston
Folio	90/1611
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Cree, Presbyterian of Leeston

6 May 1890

James O'Malley
Mary Jane Crosben

James OMalley
Mary Jane Crossen
💍 1890/1575

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Darfield
Brookside

2 years
3 months

In the Roman Catholic Church, Sheffield

90/1515

Thomas Crosben (father)

6 May 1890

Rev. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic of Darfield

No	8
Date of Notice	6 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Malley	Mary Jane Crosben
BDM Match (94%)	James OMalley	Mary Jane Crossen
	💍 1890/1575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Darfield	Brookside
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Sheffield
Folio	90/1515
Consent	Thomas Crosben (father)
Date of Certificate	6 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic of Darfield

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).