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 673

District of Timaru 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
21	5 April 1890	George Smith Mary McPeak	George Smith Mary McPeak 💍 1890/3728	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	33 29	Washdyke Timaru	4 years 3 months	R. C. Church	90/1656	5 April 1890	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic
22	10 April 1890	James Elliott Elizabeth Irwin	James Malcolm Elizabeth Newland 💍 1890/606 James Knight Elizabeth Smith 💍 1890/369 James Wilkie Elizabeth Gunn 💍 1890/551 James Mair Elizabeth Dennis 💍 1891/3574	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	36 26	Hadlow Timaru	9 years 10 years	Dwelling House of Robt. Irwin, Beeth Timaru (see Inscoorn att?)		10 April 1890	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian
23	11 April 1890	Richard John Penrose Lizzie Howe	Richard John Penrose Lizzie Howe 💍 1890/1961	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	22 21	Timaru Timaru	10 years 15 years	Dwelling House of Will Penrose, Stafford St Timaru	90/1652	11 April 1890	Rev. O. C. Brown, Baptist
24	12 April 1890	Patrick Coll Bridget Casey	Patrick Coll Bridget Casey 💍 1890/1969	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 28	Waitohi Pleasant Point	18 years 4 days	Roman Catholic Church Temuka	90/1636	12 April 1890	Rev. Louis Gauvel, Roman Catholic
25	14 April 1890	Charles Frederick Cork Mary Ann Hall	Charles Frederick Cork Mary Ann Hah 💍 1890/1952	Bachelor Spinster	House Painter	22 21	Le Cren Street Timaru	6 weeks 2 years	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru	90/1644	14 April 1890	Rev. W. J. P. Winter, Church of England
26	14 April 1890	Robert Henry Maxwell Ann Marshall	Robert Henry Maxrell Ann Marshall 💍 1890/1953	Widower Spinster	Gardener	40 42	Marchweil Marchweil	20 years 8 years	St. Mary's English Church, Timaru	90/1645	14 April 1890	Rev. W. J. P. Winter, Church of England
27	15 April 1890	Patrick Reilly Josephine Sullivan	Patrick Reilly Josephine Sullivan 💍 1890/1964	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 24	Timaru Timaru	12 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	90/1655	15 April 1890	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic
28	24 April 1890	Benjamin Murgatroyd Ellen Maud Bezzant	Benjamin Murgatroyd Ellen Maud Bezzant 💍 1890/1962	Bachelor Spinster	Woollen factor	26 19	Timaru Timaru	18 months 8 years	Dwelling House of Benjamin Murgatroyd, Timaru	90/1653	24 April 1890	Rev. C. C. Brown, Baptist

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).