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 1028

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 30 September 1890 Registrar E. R. Broad

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

624

9 July 1890

Mathew Henry Stokes
Amy Vereuca Maddison

Matthew Henry Stokes
Amy Verenna Maddison
💍 1890/1435

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
not any

30 years
26 years

Waikuku Rangiora
Southbrook Rangiora

30 years
1 year

Episcopalian Church

90/2415

9 July 1890

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	624
Date of Notice	9 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mathew Henry Stokes	Amy Vereuca Maddison
BDM Match (93%)	Matthew Henry Stokes	Amy Verenna Maddison
	💍 1890/1435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	not any
Age	30 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Waikuku Rangiora	Southbrook Rangiora
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church
Folio	90/2415
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

628

11 July 1890

William Elliott
Catherine Kelliher

William Elliott
Kate Kelliher
💍 1890/1429

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

29 years
25 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

3 days
2 months

Catholic Church

90/2410

11 July 1890

Rev. M. Browne

No	628
Date of Notice	11 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elliott	Catherine Kelliher
BDM Match (83%)	William Elliott	Kate Kelliher
	💍 1890/1429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	29 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	90/2410
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Browne

629

14 July 1890

William Richard Booker
Alice Hunger

William Richard Booker
Alice Stringer
💍 1890/1428

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
not any

28 years
23 years

Ashley Rangiora
Ashley Rangiora

7 years
23 years

Episcopalian Church

90/2409

26 July 1890

Rev. C. H. Fosset

No	629
Date of Notice	14 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Richard Booker	Alice Hunger
BDM Match (86%)	William Richard Booker	Alice Stringer
	💍 1890/1428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	not any
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Ashley Rangiora	Ashley Rangiora
Length of Residence	7 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church
Folio	90/2409
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Fosset

630

18 July 1890

Anthony Barker
Annie Fitzgell

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

27 years
29 years

Southbrook Rangiora
Rangiora

15 years
10 years

Parish Church Rangiora

90/2416

18 July 1890

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	630
Date of Notice	18 July 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Barker	Annie Fitzgell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	27 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Southbrook Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Parish Church Rangiora
Folio	90/2416
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

631

9 August 1890

Samuel Fitzgell
Esther Harlaw

Samuel Fitzell
Esther Harlow
💍 1890/1434

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dom. Servant

30 years
21 years

Rangiora
Rangiora

7 years
7 years

Church of England Rangiora

90/2414

9 August 1890

Rev. W. E. Gillam

No	631
Date of Notice	9 August 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Fitzgell	Esther Harlaw
BDM Match (93%)	Samuel Fitzell	Esther Harlow
	💍 1890/1434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dom. Servant
Age	30 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Rangiora
Folio	90/2414
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam

632

27 September 1890

William Miles
Bridget Broderick

William Miles
Bridget Broderick
💍 1890/1433

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Cook

44
46

Rangiora
Rangiora

33 years
10 years

Church of England Temuka

90/2413

27 September 1890

Ven Archdeacon Dudley

No	632
Date of Notice	27 September 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Miles	Bridget Broderick
	💍 1890/1433
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	44	46
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	33 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Temuka
Folio	90/2413
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1890
Officiating Minister	Ven Archdeacon Dudley

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).