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 907

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar Garland Wm Woon

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
32	1 July 1890	Robert John Johnston Mary Cooper	Robert Johnston Mary Cooper 💍 1890/3252	Bachelor Spinster	Grachsmith	24 20	Wanganni Wanganni	2 yrs 11 yrs	In the residence of Mr. John Cooper, Wilson Street	90/764	John Cooper, father	1 July 1890	C. A. Kirk
33	15 July 1890	John Sharles Greenwood Clara Phoebe Dickson (birth surname Putnam)	John Charles Greenwood Clara Phobe Dickson 💍 1890/2291	Bachelor Spinster	Druilist	27 27	Wanganni Wanganni	9 yrs 3 yrs	In the Church of England, Wanganni	90/2167		15 July 1890	T. L. Tudor
34	22 July 1890	James Reid Stewart Jane Peat	James Reid Stewart Jane Peat 💍 1890/2286	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	36 25	Wanganni Still Side	3 days 25 yrs	In the residence of Mr. D. Peat, Hill Side	90/2161		22 July 1890	James Treadwell
35	30 July 1890	John Wilson Augusta Rude	John Wilson Augusta Ruebe 💍 1890/2287	Bachelor Spinster	Overseer	26 24	Seafield Wanganni	1 yr 15 yrs	In the Presbyterian Church, Wanganni	90/2162		30 July 1890	James Treadwell
36	2 August 1890	Walter James Jones Janet Swan	Walter James Jones Janet Swan 💍 1890/2292	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 18	Wanganni Wanganni	3 days 18 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganni	90/2168	Peter Swan, father	4 August 1890	G. W. Woon
37	19 August 1890	James Thomson Sinclair Annie Strachan	James Thomson Sinclair Annie Strachan 💍 1890/2288	Bachelor Spinster	Seedsman	30 29	Durietown No. 3 Line	2 yrs 29 yrs	In the residence of Mr. [illegible], No. 3 Line	90/2163		19 August 1890	James Treadwell
38	26 August 1890	John Mahony Phoebe Frances Cannon	John Mahoney Phoebe Frances Carmon 💍 1890/2290	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	31 26	Wanganni Wanganni	3 yrs 15 yrs	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganni	90/2166		26 August 1890	C. A. Kirk
39	29 August 1890	James Alfred Dearlove Catherine Hergeon	James Alfred Sparks Catherine Helgeson 💍 1890/2293	Bachelor Widow	Musician	26 24	Wanganni Wanganni	18 yrs 18 mos.	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganni	90/2169		29 August 1890	G. W. Woon
40	29 August 1890	Angus Macdonald Rose Mary Barns	Angus MacDonald Rose Mary Barns 💍 1890/2289	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 26	Wangaehu Putiki	25 yrs 10 yrs	In the residence of Mr. P. D. Hogg, Wanganni	90/2164		29 August 1890	James Treadwell
41	17 September 1890	Charles Henry Davies Helena Constance Ford	Charles Henry Davies Helena Constance Ford 💍 1890/2294	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	32 19	Wanganni Wanganni	15 days 15 days	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganni	90/2170	Jane Insline, mother	19 September 1890	G. W. Woon
42	23 September 1890	William Signal Amelia Emily Wilkins	William Signal Amelia Emily Wilkins 💍 1890/2305	Widower Spinster	Engineer	29 21	Wanganni Wanganni	3 days 3 yrs	In the residence of James Signal, Wilson Street	90/2173		23 September 1890	H. R. Dewsbury

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 1899. 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).