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 1373

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar John James Lundsberg White

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

20 October 1890

Harry Hillman
Florence Edith Elvira Clark

Harry Hillman
Florence Edith Elvira Clark
💍 1890/3098

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27 years
20 years

Renwicktown
Cowley, Blenheim

4 years
20 years

The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

90/3297

Henry Galling Clark, Father

20 October 1890

Rev. J. S. Grace

No	33
Date of Notice	20 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hillman	Florence Edith Elvira Clark
	💍 1890/3098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Renwicktown	Cowley, Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	90/3297
Consent	Henry Galling Clark, Father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Grace

27 October 1890

Morton Reigles Store Clark
Katie Maria Dodson

Morton Reigels Stow Clark
Katie Maria Dodson
💍 1890/3099

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Clerk

27 years
21 years

Temporary Blenheim
Wellington

27 years
27 years

The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

90/3298

27 October 1890

Rev. J. S. Grace

No	34
Date of Notice	27 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morton Reigles Store Clark	Katie Maria Dodson
BDM Match (92%)	Morton Reigels Stow Clark	Katie Maria Dodson
	💍 1890/3099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Clerk
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Temporary Blenheim	Wellington
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	The Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	90/3298
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Grace

9 November 1890

Frederick Hale
Mary Elizabeth Gresham

Frederick Hale
Mary Elizabeth Gresham
💍 1890/3101

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

25 years
22 years

Walter Street, Blenheim
Evendon Street, Blenheim

4 years 6 months
22 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

90/3300

9 November 1890

Rev. W. J. Lewis

No	35
Date of Notice	9 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hale	Mary Elizabeth Gresham
	💍 1890/3101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Walter Street, Blenheim	Evendon Street, Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years 6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	90/3300
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Lewis

14 November 1890

John Thomas Williams
Mary Anne Leonard

John Thomas Williams
Mary Anne Leonard
💍 1890/3102

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

22 years
23 years

South St. Blenheim
Weld St. Blenheim

2 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

90/3301

14 November 1890

Rev. W. J. Lewis

No	36
Date of Notice	14 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Williams	Mary Anne Leonard
	💍 1890/3102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	South St. Blenheim	Weld St. Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	90/3301
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Lewis

4 December 1890

Samuel Alfred Frederick Morgan
Maria Reynolds

Samuel Alfred Frederic Morgan
Maria Reynolds
💍 1890/3097

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

21 years
18 years

Grove Road, Blenheim
Grove Road, Blenheim

3 years
1 week

The House of Mr. Harry Dunstall, Grove Road, Blenheim

90/3296

John Reynolds, Father

4 December 1890

Rev. Henry Bull

No	37
Date of Notice	4 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Alfred Frederick Morgan	Maria Reynolds
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Alfred Frederic Morgan	Maria Reynolds
	💍 1890/3097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Grove Road, Blenheim	Grove Road, Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. Harry Dunstall, Grove Road, Blenheim
Folio	90/3296
Consent	John Reynolds, Father
Date of Certificate	4 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Bull

6 December 1890

David Lawson
Margaret Wemyss

David Lawson
Margaret Wemyss
💍 1890/3103

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

28 years
24 years

Temporary Blenheim
Usual Wellington

5 days
23 years

The House of Mr. David Wemyss, Blenheim

90/3302

6 December 1890

Rev. W. O. Roll

No	38
Date of Notice	6 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Lawson	Margaret Wemyss
	💍 1890/3103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Temporary Blenheim	Usual Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. David Wemyss, Blenheim
Folio	90/3302
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Roll

8 December 1890

Charles Henry Miller
Mary Elizabeth Eves

Charles Henry Miller
Mary Elizabeth Eves
💍 1890/3095

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

20 years
23 years

Spring Creek
Renwick Town

4 years
23 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

90/3294

John Miller, Father

8 December 1890

Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

No	39
Date of Notice	8 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Miller	Mary Elizabeth Eves
	💍 1890/3095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	20 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Renwick Town
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	90/3294
Consent	John Miller, Father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

13 December 1890

Charles Matthews
Margaret March

Charles Matthews
Margaret March
💍 1890/3096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25 years
24 years

Spring Creek
Marlborough Town

25 years
24 years

The Church of England, Marlborough Town

90/3295

13 December 1890

Rev. Geo. F. Grace

No	40
Date of Notice	13 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Matthews	Margaret March
	💍 1890/3096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Marlborough Town
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England, Marlborough Town
Folio	90/3295
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. F. Grace

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).