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 1302

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar F. M. Duflone

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
25	14 October 1890	John Charles Button Mary Annie Ellery	John Charles Button Mary Annie Ellery 💍 1890/2955	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 18	Bulls Bulls	15 years 11 years	The house of Mr. Thos. Ellery Bulls	90/3086	Thomas Ellery Father	14 October 1890	Revd. F. Doull Presbyterian
26	21 October 1890	William Richard Langridge Ada Mary Dewhurst	William Richard Snelgrove Ada Mary Dewhirst 💍 1890/3416	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	39 20	Marton Marton	20 years 2 years	St. Stephen's Church Marton	90/3082	John Dewhurst Father	21 October 1890	Revd. A. Joygood Church of England
27	21 October 1890	Arthur Awyune Mayrick Amelia Taylor	Arthur Gwynne Meyrick Amelia Taylor 💍 1890/2952	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 26	Bulls Bulls	3 days 4 months	The house of Mr. F. J. Walryuple Wintatapea	90/3084		21 October 1890	Revd. F. Jones Jones Church of England
28	22 October 1890	Alfred Eincell Letteridge Emma Yates Letteridge	Alfred Ernest Lethbridge Emma Yates Lethbridge 💍 1890/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 28	Turakina Valley Turakina	2 years 20 years	The house of Mr. G. H. Letteridge Turakina	90/3772		22 October 1890	Revd. J. Ross Presbyterian
29	27 October 1890	Henry John Beattie Elizabeth McKay Cockburn	Henry John Death Elizabeth McKay Cockburn 💍 1890/3415	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Upper Turakina Porewa	23 years 22 years	The house of Mr. Alexander Cockburn Porewa	90/3080		27 October 1890	Revd. D. Gordon Presbyterian
30	19 December 1890	John William Jenkins Sarah Christina Read	John William Jenkins Sarah Christina Read 💍 1890/2953	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 32	Bulls Bulls	7 years 2 years	St. Andrews Church Bulls	90/3085		19 December 1890	Revd. F. Jones Jones Church of England
31	22 December 1890	John Crawford Alice Newman	John Crawford Alice Newman 💍 1890/2951	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 25	Fern Flats Marton	1 year 7 years	St. Stephen's Church Marton	90/3088		22 December 1890	Revd. A. Joygood Church of England
32	29 December 1890	James McHardie Florence Jane Tucker	James McHardie Florence Jane Tucker 💍 1891/3822	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 17	Bulls Bulls	24 years 1 year	The Office of the Deputy Registrar of Marriages Marton	91/930	Hopersore in colour having written consent	12 January 1891	Deputy Registrar of Marriages Marton
33	29 December 1890	John Woolston Mary Ann Theobald	John Woolston Mary Ann Theobald 💍 1890/2950	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 21	Hunterville Hunterville	5 years 4 years	The Presbyterian Manse Marton	90/3081		29 December 1890	Revd. D. Gordon Presbyterian

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).