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 669

District of Temuka Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar Arnold Wm Mann

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

8 April 1890

Joseph Heottone Webb
Clara Foster

Joseph Skottowe Webb
Clara Foster
💍 1890/1971

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
31

Temuka
Temuka

4 days
14 days

St Saviours Church

90/1638

8 April 1890

Rev T A Hamilton, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	8 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Heottone Webb	Clara Foster
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Skottowe Webb	Clara Foster
	💍 1890/1971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	4 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church
Folio	90/1638
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev T A Hamilton, Church of England

9 April 1890

George Anderson
Mary Ellen Thornley

George Anderson
Mary Ellen Thornley
💍 1890/1950

Bachelor
Spinster

School-teacher

21
20

Rangitata
Waitohi

2 years
12 years

Presbyterian Church

90/1641

Thos Thornley - Father

9 April 1890

Rev John Dickson, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	9 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Anderson	Mary Ellen Thornley
	💍 1890/1950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School-teacher
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Waitohi
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	90/1641
Consent	Thos Thornley - Father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev John Dickson, Presbyterian

11 April 1890

Patrick Coll
Bridget Casey

Patrick Coll
Bridget Casey
💍 1890/1969

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
28

Waitohi
Pleasant Point

18 years
14 days

St Josephs Church

90/1636

11 April 1890

Rev L Fauvel, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	11 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Coll	Bridget Casey
	💍 1890/1969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Waitohi	Pleasant Point
Length of Residence	18 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church
Folio	90/1636
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev L Fauvel, Roman Catholic

23 April 1890

Henry Martyn Miles
Florence Annie Brown

Henry Martyn Miles
Florence Annie Brown
💍 1890/1949

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

32
22

Temuka
Temuka

6 years
22 years

At the residence of Elyah Brown

90/1639

23 April 1890

Rev R S Bunn, Wesleyan

No	8
Date of Notice	23 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Martyn Miles	Florence Annie Brown
	💍 1890/1949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	6 years	22 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Elyah Brown
Folio	90/1639
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev R S Bunn, Wesleyan

2 May 1890

Edmund Arthur Brakewell
Edith Woodley

Edward Arthur Brakewell
Edith Woodley
💍 1890/1968

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

22
19

Temuka
Winchester

1 year
3 years

At the residence of John Woodley

90/1635

John Woodley - Father

2 May 1890

Rev Geo Clement, Primitive Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	2 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Arthur Brakewell	Edith Woodley
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Arthur Brakewell	Edith Woodley
	💍 1890/1968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Winchester
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Woodley
Folio	90/1635
Consent	John Woodley - Father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Clement, Primitive Methodist

15 May 1890

Edward Alden
Ruth Nelson

Edward Uden
Ruth Nelson
💍 1890/3717

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28
18

Temuka
Temuka

5 years
18 years

Registrars office

90/1640

Mary Moulton - Mother

15 May 1890

A H Mann Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	15 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alden	Ruth Nelson
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Uden	Ruth Nelson
	💍 1890/3717
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office
Folio	90/1640
Consent	Mary Moulton - Mother
Date of Certificate	15 May 1890
Officiating Minister	A H Mann Registrar

9 June 1890

Daniel Dwyer
Annie Dillon

Daniel Dwyer
Annie Dillon
💍 1890/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
21

Temuka
Temuka

1 month
7 days

St Josephs Church

90/1637

9 June 1890

Rev J Nicolas Benefeld, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	9 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Dwyer	Annie Dillon
	💍 1890/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Temuka	Temuka
Length of Residence	1 month	7 days
Marriage Place	St Josephs Church
Folio	90/1637
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J Nicolas Benefeld, Roman Catholic

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).