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 1381

District of Nelson Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Robert Kirton

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
40	2 October 1890	George Rennell Higgins Alice Candace Hammond	George Rennell Higgins Alice Candace Hammond 💍 1890/3139	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	24 23	Appleby Appleby	3 days 23 years	Residence of J. George Hammond, Appleby	90/3315		2 October 1890	Revd. John Crump, Baptist Church
41	13 October 1890	Peter Elley Moller Hansine Marie Petersen	Peter Elley Moller Hansine Marie Petersen 💍 1890/3140	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Nil	50 40	Waimea Street, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	1 month 1 month	Wesleyan Church	90/3316		13 October 1890	Revd. Francis Whitmore Isitt, Wesleyan Church
42	13 October 1890	Ernest Oakey Johan Robertson Morison	Crnest Oakey Johan Robertson Morrison 💍 1890/3136	Bachelor Spinster	Piano Maker Nil	21 25	Bridge Street, Nelson Bridge Street, Nelson	2 years 2 months	Baptist Church	90/3312		13 October 1890	Revd. Thomas Bray, Baptist Church
43	21 October 1890	William Edward Westley Lucy Meads	William Edward Westley Lucy Meads 💍 1890/3128	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman Nil	22 18	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	22 years 3 weeks	Office of the Registrar	90/3328	William Meads, father	21 October 1890	Robert Kirton, Registrar
44	21 October 1890	William Challies Florence Elizabeth Hammond	William Challies Florence Elizabeth Hammond 💍 1890/3479	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	31 25	Waimea West Waimea West	30 years 25 years	St Alban's Church, Appleby	90/3776		21 October 1890	Revd. William George Baker, Church of England
45	25 October 1890	Charles Frederick Muntz Mary Broda Reeves	Charles Frederick Munty Mary Brodie Reeves 💍 1890/3122	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	25 21	Richmond Collingwood Street, Nelson	25 years 4 years	Christ Church	90/3321		25 October 1890	Revd. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
46	27 October 1890	Samuel Westrupp Catharine Maria Wolf	Samuel Westrupp Catherine Maria Woolf 💍 1890/3141	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Nil	25 22	Ketch Angus, Nelson Haven Road, Nelson	4 months 5 months	Residence of Foster James Jackaberry	90/3317		27 October 1890	Revd. Francis Whitmore Isitt, Wesleyan Church
47	29 October 1890	Frederick Neve Elizabeth Ward	Frederick Neve Elizabeth Ward 💍 1890/3129	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Nil	19 20	Waimea Road, Nelson Waimea Street, Nelson	19 years 3 years	Office of the Registrar	90/3329	Augustus Neve, father; Samuel Ward, father	29 October 1890	Robert Kirton, Registrar
48	31 October 1890	Thomas Rowlings Sarah Cummings	Thomas Rowlings Sarah Cummings 💍 1890/3137	Widower Widow	Farmer Farmer	71 56	Collingwood Street, Nelson Tory Street, Nelson	3 days 1 week	Residence of Michael Levy	90/3313		31 October 1890	Revd. Thomas Bray, Baptist Church
49	3 November 1890	George Fort Emily Pothecary	George Fox Emily Pothecary 💍 1890/3119	Widower Spinster	Master Mariner Nil	51 22	Britannia Heights, Nelson Britannia Heights, Nelson	1 year 1 month	Residence of Capt. George Fort, Britannia Heights, Nelson	90/3310		3 November 1890	Revd. Frederick Wm. Chatterton, Church of England
50	11 November 1890	Charles Plummer Mary Ann Vant Howes	Charles Primmer Mary Ann Vant Flower 💍 1890/3126	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Nil	24 25	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	4 days 9 weeks	St. John the Evangelist Church	90/3326		11 November 1890	Revd. Alfred Ralph Watson, Church of England
51	14 November 1890	John Henry Charles Springer Elizabeth Miller	John Henry Charles Springer Elizabeth Miller 💍 1890/3131	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Nil	26 21	Hope Hope	26 years 4 years	Office of the Registrar	90/3330		14 November 1890	Robert Kirton, Registrar
52	24 November 1890	Charles Haggitt Caroline Emma Atkinson	Charles Haggitt Caroline Emma Atkinson 💍 1890/3124	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	27 24	Trafalgar Street, Nelson Beachville, Nelson	4 years 24 years	Christ Church	90/3323		24 November 1890	Revd. John Pratt Kempthorne, Church of England
53	18 December 1890	Frederick Lupton Jane Hough	Frederick Lustar Jane Garland Hough 💍 1890/3142	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Nil	26 30	98 Penguin, Nelson Collingwood Street, Nelson	3 months 30 years	Residence of Sarah Hough, Collingwood Street, Nelson	90/3318		18 December 1890	Revd. Francis Whitmore Isitt, Wesleyan Church
54	22 December 1890	William Temple Harris Mary Frances Elizabeth Jones	William Sumpter Harri Mary Francis Elizabeth Jones 💍 1890/3528	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Nil	28 32	Brougham Street, Nelson Brougham Street, Nelson	1 week 12 years	Christ Church	90/3324		22 December 1890	Revd. John Pratt Kempthorne, 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 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).