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 942

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
27	9 July 1890	Vincent William Andrews Elizabeth Ann Wells	Vincent William Andrews Elizabeth Ann Wills 💍 1890/2392	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 23	Opaki Masterton	14 Months 3 weeks	House of Mr Percival Brown Masterton	90/2283		9 July 1890	Rev. William Rouse Wesleyan Minister
28	21 July 1890	James Clarke Mary Ann Field	James Clarke Mary Ann Field 💍 1890/2720	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 19	Upper plain Upper plain	4 Months 12 Months	Church of England Masterton	90/2751	Richard Field father	21 July 1890	Rev. W. E. Paige Church of England Minister
29	22 July 1890	John Anders Roigard Johanna Neilson	John Andersen Roigard Johanna Nielsen 💍 1890/2376	Bachelor Spinster	Seller	24 19	Mauriceville Mauriceville	17 years 18 years	Lutheran Church Mauriceville	90/2289	Hans Neilson father	22 July 1890	Rev. M. Christenson Lutheran Minister
30	31 July 1890	George Alexander Dunbar Mary Green	George Alexander Dunbar Mary Green 💍 1890/2393	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	36 23	Masterton Kuripuni	9 Months 9 Months	House of Mr Edward Green Kuripuni	90/2284		31 July 1890	Rev. W. Rouse Wesleyan Minister
31	2 August 1890	Edward John Scarl Adele May Alice Corbett	Edward John Seath Adela Mary Alice Corbett 💍 1890/2721	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel keeper	23 17	Masterton Masterton	4 days 12 Months	Church of England Masterton	90/2752	Emily Corbett Mother	2 August 1890	Rev. W. E. Paige Church of England Minister
32	4 August 1890	Frederick Benjamin Sewell Fanny Kay	Frederick Benjamin Sewell Fanny Kay 💍 1890/2373	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 23	Masterton Masterton	5 days 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	90/2286		4 August 1890	John Bagge Registrar
33	13 August 1890	Arthur Morgan Mary Herfordshire Thrupp	Arthur Morgan Mary Forfarshire Thrupp 💍 1890/2374	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 17	Mauriceville Mauriceville	2 years 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Mauriceville	90/2287	Thomas Thrupp Father	13 August 1890	John Bagge Registrar
34	25 August 1890	Benjamin Richard Rayner Maria Elizabeth Compton	Benjamin Richard Rayner Maria Elizabeth Compton 💍 1890/2391	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Masterton Manaia	3 days 19 years	House of Mrs Compton Manaia	90/2282	Maria Compton Mother	25 August 1890	Rev. Charles Murray Presbyterian Minister
35	28 August 1890	Ben Rickard Jessie Pelling	Benjamin J E Rickard Jessie Pelling 💍 1890/2372	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 21	Masterton Kuripuni	9 years 9 years	House of Mr F. Pelling Kuripuni	90/2285		28 August 1890	Rev. W. Rouse Wesleyan Minister
36	30 August 1890	William Roigard Annie Mortinson	William Roigard Annie Mortensen 💍 1890/2377	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Mauriceville Mauriceville	15 years 17 years	Lutheran Church Mauriceville	90/2290	Jorgen Mortenson Father	30 August 1890	Rev. Mads Christenson Lutheran Minister
37	4 September 1890	William Henry Buick Elizabeth Isabella Daysh	William Henry Buick Elizabeth Isabella Daysh 💍 1890/2388	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 24	Opaki Taratahi	3 days 24 years	House of Mr Richd Daysh Carterton	90/2278		4 September 1890	Rev. Charles Murray Presbyterian Minister

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).