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 663

District of Ashburton 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
638	5 April 1890	John Stack Mary Ann Devery	John Stack Mary Anne Devery 💍 1890/1915	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Spinster	30 18	Ashburton Lyndhurst	3 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Church	90/1629	John Devery, Father	7 April 1890	Revd. F. Chastagnon
639	11 April 1890	Albert Lee Lucy Anna Woolley	Albert Lee Lucy Hanna Woolley 💍 1890/1922	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	29 16	Ashburton Hinds	6 years 16 years	Wesleyan Church	90/1623	Thomas Woolley, father	11 April 1890	Revd. Joseph St. Gray
640	17 April 1890	Daniel Reilley Mary Ann Fleming	Daniel Reilly Mary Ann Fleming 💍 1890/1912	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Spinster	28 17	Ashburton Ashburton	1 year 4 years	Registrars Office	90/1628	William Fleming, father	19 April 1890	J. Ward, Registrar
641	7 May 1890	Alexander Minty Beattie Mary Elizabeth Rutherford	Alexander Minty Beattie Mary Elizabeth Rutherford 💍 1890/3069	Widower Widow	Clergyman Widow	55 48	Ashburton Ashburton	11 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church	90/1622		7 May 1890	Revd. D. T. Elmslie.
642	12 May 1890	John McKay Emma Betts	John McKay Emma Betts 💍 1890/1913	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	26 26	Ashburton Ashburton	7 months 12 years	Registrars Office	90/1627		12 May 1890	J. Ward, Registrar.
643	15 May 1890	William Sutty Annie Phelps	William Tubby Annie Phelps 💍 1890/1919	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 20	Ashburton Ashburton	15 years 15 years	Primitive Methodist Church at Ashburton	90/1617	Daniel Phelps, Father.	17 May 1890	Revd. J. Boothroyd.
644	20 May 1890	Henry W. J. Doggett Margaret Rountree	Henry William Tickner Doggett Margaret Rountree 💍 1890/1921	Widower Spinster	Draper Domestic Servant	32 22	Ashburton Tinwald	3 years 4 years	Church of England	90/1620		20 May 1890	Revd. R. F. Garbett.
645	23 May 1890	William David Beaumont Emma Jane Tregoning	William David Beaumont Emma Jane Tregoning 💍 1890/1923	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver Spinster	32 25	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 11 years	Private Dwellinghouse of W. Collins at Ashburton	90/1624		26 May 1890	Revd. J. N. Buttle.
646	24 May 1890	Robert Moodie Emma Louisa Perryman	Robert Moodie Emma Louisa Perryman 💍 1890/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	21 22	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 8 years	St. Stephen's Church	90/1618		24 May 1890	Revd. E. A. Scott.
647	7 June 1890	James Williams Rose Elizabeth Rook	James Williams Rose Elizabeth Rooke 💍 1890/1920 Alfred Williams Emma Elizabeth Rowley 💍 1890/2667	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	30 19	Ashburton Netherby, Ashburton	15 years 15 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Henry Rook at Netherby, Ashburton	90/1618	Henry Rook, father	7 June 1890	Revd. J. Boothroyd.
648	7 June 1890	Thomas Wheeler Mary Jane Hayman	Thomas Wheeler Mary Jane Hayman 💍 1890/3070	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Spinster	23 25	Willowby Willowby	12 years 14 years	Wesleyan Church	90/1625		7 June 1890	Revd. J. N. Buttle.

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).