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 829

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1890

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

261

2 July 1890

John Munro
Helen Jessie Weaver

John Munro
Helen Jessie Weaver
💍 1890/2173

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer

29
28

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
4 years

Church of St. Paul at Auckland

90/2011

2 July 1890

Rev. C. M. Nelson

No	261
Date of Notice	2 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Munro	Helen Jessie Weaver
	💍 1890/2173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Paul at Auckland
Folio	90/2011
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. M. Nelson

262

4 July 1890

Robert Taylor
Rose McCaffery

Robert Taylor
Rose McCaffery
💍 1890/2176

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

21
19

Newton Road
Auckland

21 years
19 years

Church of St. Sepulchre Auckland

90/2014

Thomas McCaffery, Father

4 July 1890

Rev. B. T. Dudley

No	262
Date of Notice	4 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Taylor	Rose McCaffery
	💍 1890/2176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Newton Road	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	90/2014
Consent	Thomas McCaffery, Father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. T. Dudley

263

4 July 1890

Lucas Shirley Maxwell
Amante Frances Bolton

Lucas Sherley Maxwell
Amante Frances Bolton
💍 1890/2180

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
25

Northcote
Chelsea

10 years
4 years

St. Peters Church Chelsea

90/2018

4 July 1890

Rev. H. S. Davis

No	263
Date of Notice	4 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lucas Shirley Maxwell	Amante Frances Bolton
BDM Match (98%)	Lucas Sherley Maxwell	Amante Frances Bolton
	💍 1890/2180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Northcote	Chelsea
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Chelsea
Folio	90/2018
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Davis

264

4 July 1890

Richard James Owen
Amy Amelia Edwards

Richard James Owen
Amy Amelia Edwards
💍 1890/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

Phonographer

29
20

Melbourne
Mt. Eden

8 years
20 years

Church of St. Sepulchre Auckland

90/2013

Annie Edwards, Mother

4 July 1890

Rev. B. T. Dudley

No	264
Date of Notice	4 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard James Owen	Amy Amelia Edwards
	💍 1890/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Phonographer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Melbourne	Mt. Eden
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	90/2013
Consent	Annie Edwards, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. T. Dudley

265

4 July 1890

William Stevens Smith
Marian McDonald

William Stevens Smith
Marian McDonald
💍 1890/2156

William Sutherland
Mary McDonald
💍 1890/2596

William Russell Durrant
Sarah McDonald
💍 1890/2556

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
35

Wairau South
Wairau South

16 years
30 years

Dwelling of Mr. Charles McDonald, East St. Newton

90/1994

4 July 1890

Rev. Wm. Birch

No	265
Date of Notice	4 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stevens Smith	Marian McDonald
	💍 1890/2156
BDM Match (64%)	William Sutherland	Mary McDonald
	💍 1890/2596
BDM Match (62%)	William Russell Durrant	Sarah McDonald
	💍 1890/2556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Wairau South	Wairau South
Length of Residence	16 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Charles McDonald, East St. Newton
Folio	90/1994
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Birch

266

5 July 1890

Charles Nicholls
Julia Ellen Hoare

Charles Nicholls
Julia Ellen Hart
💍 1890/2144

Bachelor

Farmer

38
30

Mangere
Mangere

14 years
10 years

Dwelling of Mr. John Hoare, Mangere

90/1963

5 July 1890

Rev. T. Adams

No	266
Date of Notice	5 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Nicholls	Julia Ellen Hoare
BDM Match (94%)	Charles Nicholls	Julia Ellen Hart
	💍 1890/2144
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Mangere	Mangere
Length of Residence	14 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. John Hoare, Mangere
Folio	90/1963
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Adams

267

5 July 1890

Alfred Langham Foster
Jessie Alice Hay

Alfred Langham Foster
Jessie Ellis Hay
💍 1890/2151

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

29
23

Auckland
Remuera

9 years
4 months

Dwelling of Mr. Jessie Hay, Remuera

90/1989

5 July 1890

Rev. G. B. Munro

No	267
Date of Notice	5 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Langham Foster	Jessie Alice Hay
BDM Match (88%)	Alfred Langham Foster	Jessie Ellis Hay
	💍 1890/2151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	9 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Jessie Hay, Remuera
Folio	90/1989
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Munro

268

5 July 1890

William Waller Ellis
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Phillips

William Walter Ellis
Sarah Ann Elisabeth Phillips
💍 1890/2185

Widower
Widow

Law Clerk

39
39

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
4 years

Registrars Office Auckland

90/2022

5 July 1890

Reg. of Marriages

No	268
Date of Notice	5 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Waller Ellis	Sarah Ann Elizabeth Phillips
BDM Match (96%)	William Walter Ellis	Sarah Ann Elisabeth Phillips
	💍 1890/2185
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Auckland
Folio	90/2022
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Reg. of Marriages

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).