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 697

District of Palmerston S Quarter ending 30 June 1890 Registrar William Bundle

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

12 April 1890

John Cook
Charlotte Mitchell

John Cook
Charlotte Mitchell
💍 1890/2206

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

44
34

Palmerston
Palmerston

3 days
3 days

House of Mrs Cobden Palmerston

90/1701

12 April 1890

Rev W. Willmer Wesleyan.

No	3
Date of Notice	12 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cook	Charlotte Mitchell
	💍 1890/2206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	44	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Cobden Palmerston
Folio	90/1701
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Willmer Wesleyan.

22 April 1890

John George Findlay
Josephine Emily Aitken

John George Findlay
Josephine Emily Arkle
💍 1890/2209

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister

25
25

Palmerston
Palmerston

4 years
25 years

St Mary's Church of England Palmerston

90/1703

22 April 1890

Rev H. C. Frere Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	22 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Findlay	Josephine Emily Aitken
BDM Match (91%)	John George Findlay	Josephine Emily Arkle
	💍 1890/2209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church of England Palmerston
Folio	90/1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev H. C. Frere Church of England

5 May 1890

Donald McCulloch
Georgina Ward

Donald McIntosh
Georgina Ward
💍 1890/2203

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

22
21

Shag Point
Shag Point

Before 1 year House of Mr John
21 years Colin Campbell Shag Point

before Registrar

90/1698

5 May 1890

Reg Dr Clark Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	5 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McCulloch	Georgina Ward
BDM Match (84%)	Donald McIntosh	Georgina Ward
	💍 1890/2203
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Shag Point	Shag Point
Length of Residence	Before 1 year House of Mr John	21 years Colin Campbell Shag Point
Marriage Place	before Registrar
Folio	90/1698
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Reg Dr Clark Presbyterian

14 May 1890

Evan Davies
Margaret Burns

Evan Davies
Margaret Burns
💍 1890/2204

William Moreton Chappell
Margaret Burns
💍 1890/1062

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

33
22

Shag Point
Shag Point

15 months
6 months

Private Hotel

90/1699

14 May 1890

Rev Dr Clark Presbyterian.

No	6
Date of Notice	14 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan Davies	Margaret Burns
	💍 1890/2204
BDM Match (60%)	William Moreton Chappell	Margaret Burns
	💍 1890/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Shag Point	Shag Point
Length of Residence	15 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Private Hotel
Folio	90/1699
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Clark Presbyterian.

24 May 1890

William Hunt
Margaret Reason

William Hunt
Margaret Reason
💍 1890/2207

Widower
Widow

Miner

38
73

Shag Point
Shag Point

11 years
31 years Palmerston

Registrar's Office

90/1702

24 May 1890

William Bundle

No	7
Date of Notice	24 May 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hunt	Margaret Reason
	💍 1890/2207
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	38	73
Dwelling Place	Shag Point	Shag Point
Length of Residence	11 years	31 years Palmerston
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	90/1702
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1890
Officiating Minister	William Bundle

18 June 1890

George Hurndell
Margaret Ann Rich Drever

George Hurndell
Margaret Ann Rich Dreaver
💍 1890/2205

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic

27
23

Palmerston
Palmerston

18 years
8 years

Dwelling House of Mr Andrew Drever, Riverton Street, Palmerston

90/1700

18 June 1890

Rev Dr Clark Presbyterian.

No	8
Date of Notice	18 June 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hurndell	Margaret Ann Rich Drever
BDM Match (98%)	George Hurndell	Margaret Ann Rich Dreaver
	💍 1890/2205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	18 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr Andrew Drever, Riverton Street, Palmerston
Folio	90/1700
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Clark Presbyterian.

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).