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 1250

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Edward Hornus

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

9 October 1890

Tasman Thomas Schofield
Alice Bond

Tasman Thomas Schofield
Alice Bond
💍 1890/1637

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

23
18

Beach Road, Thames
Beach Road, Thames

21 years
18 years

St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

90/3006

Elizabeth Bond, mother

11 October 1890

Rev. J. O'Callaghan B.D. Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	9 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tasman Thomas Schofield	Alice Bond
	💍 1890/1637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Beach Road, Thames	Beach Road, Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	90/3006
Consent	Elizabeth Bond, mother
Date of Certificate	11 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan B.D. Church of England

23 October 1890

Robert Miller
Sarah White

Robert Miller
Sarah White
💍 1890/1635

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

21
20

Pollen St, Thames
Augustus St, Waitangi, Thames

21 years
18 years

The Office of the Registrar, Thames

90/3004

William White, father

25 October 1890

E. Hornus, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	23 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Miller	Sarah White
	💍 1890/1635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Pollen St, Thames	Augustus St, Waitangi, Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar, Thames
Folio	90/3004
Consent	William White, father
Date of Certificate	25 October 1890
Officiating Minister	E. Hornus, Registrar

31 October 1890

John Corbett
Annie Duffy

James Corbett
Annie Dufty
💍 1890/1631

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
None

23
21

Upper Albert St, Thames
Parawai, Thames

20 years
20 years

The Dwelling of Mr Thomas Duffy, Parawai

90/2999

31 October 1890

Rev. S.J. Neill, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	31 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Corbett	Annie Duffy
BDM Match (80%)	James Corbett	Annie Dufty
	💍 1890/1631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	None
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Upper Albert St, Thames	Parawai, Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr Thomas Duffy, Parawai
Folio	90/2999
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. S.J. Neill, Presbyterian

1 November 1890

Edward Trainer
Emily Ludwig

Edward Trainer
Emily Ludwig
💍 1890/1636

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22
16

Maiotahi Green, Thames
Yaram, Thames

11 years
16 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

90/3005

Charles Ludwig, father

1 November 1890

Edward Hornus, Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	1 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Trainer	Emily Ludwig
	💍 1890/1636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Maiotahi Green, Thames	Yaram, Thames
Length of Residence	11 years	16 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	90/3005
Consent	Charles Ludwig, father
Date of Certificate	1 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Edward Hornus, Registrar

6 November 1890

Charles Henry Taylor
Mary Waite

Charles Henry Taylor
Mary Waite
💍 1890/1638

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

25
24

Tararu, Thames
Beach Road, Thames

1 1/2 years
18 years

St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames

90/3007

6 November 1890

Rev. J. O'Callaghan B.D. Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	6 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Taylor	Mary Waite
	💍 1890/1638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Tararu, Thames	Beach Road, Thames
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	90/3007
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan B.D. Church of England

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 1908. 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).