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 917

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

2 July 1890

Ernest Daniel Browne
Clara Dora Collier

Ernest Daniel Browne
Clara Dora Collins
💍 1890/2792

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stable Keeper

29 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North

10 years
12 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

90/2779

2 July 1890

Rev. H. B. Harvey, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

No	33
Date of Notice	2 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Daniel Browne	Clara Dora Collier
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Daniel Browne	Clara Dora Collins
	💍 1890/2792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stable Keeper
Age	29 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	90/2779
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Harvey, Anglican Minister, Palmerston North

31 July 1890

John Cavanagh
Bridget Ryan

John Cavanagh
Bridget Ryan
💍 1890/2696

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

22 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 years
9 months

Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North

90/2817

31 July 1890

Rev. J. F. Patterson, C. P., Palmerston North

No	34
Date of Notice	31 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cavanagh	Bridget Ryan
	💍 1890/2696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North
Folio	90/2817
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Patterson, C. P., Palmerston North

4 August 1890

Richard Andrew Rolston
Alice Whiley

Richard Andrew Rolston
Alice Whiley
💍 1890/2311

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

90/2193

Robert Whiley, father

4 August 1890

Registrar, Palmerston North

No	35
Date of Notice	4 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Andrew Rolston	Alice Whiley
	💍 1890/2311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	90/2193
Consent	Robert Whiley, father
Date of Certificate	4 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Palmerston North

15 August 1890

Ernest Hopkins Gallagher
Frances Mary Gallagher

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

22 years
23 years

Pohangina
Christchurch

5 months
5 months

St. Paul's Church, Papanni, Christchurch, Canterbury N.Z.

90/2432

15 August 1890

Rev. J. O'Brian Hoare, Papanni

No	36
Date of Notice	15 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Hopkins Gallagher	Frances Mary Gallagher
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Pohangina	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Papanni, Christchurch, Canterbury N.Z.
Folio	90/2432
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Brian Hoare, Papanni

22 August 1890

Martin Joseph Johansen
Annie Louise Amundsen

Martin Joseph Johansen
Annie Louise Amundsen
💍 1890/3391

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

23 years
19 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
6 months

At the house of Rev. C. Neilson, Palmerston North

90/2192

Amund Amundsen, father

22 August 1890

Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

No	37
Date of Notice	22 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Joseph Johansen	Annie Louise Amundsen
	💍 1890/3391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	23 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Rev. C. Neilson, Palmerston North
Folio	90/2192
Consent	Amund Amundsen, father
Date of Certificate	22 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Wesleyan Minister, Palmerston North

26 August 1890

Thomas Samuel Montague
Sarah Green

Thomas Samuel Montague
Sarah Green
💍 1890/2312

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23 years
21 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 weeks
4 months

At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North

90/2194

26 August 1890

Registrar, Palmerston North

No	38
Date of Notice	26 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Montague	Sarah Green
	💍 1890/2312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Palmerston North
Folio	90/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Palmerston North

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).