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 1459

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar J. Ward

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
661	11 October 1890	James McRohan Lizzie Young	James McRohan Lizzie Young 💍 1890/3423	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	33 23	Winslow Ashburton	15 years 9 months	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	90/3513		11 October 1890	Revd. Stephen Chastagnon
662	27 October 1890	John Clarke Lucinda Steer or Stephens	John Clark Lucinda Stephens 💍 1890/3419	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Dressmaker	25 23	Tinwald Ashburton	14 years 10 years	St. Andrew's Church Tinwald	90/3509		27 October 1890	Revd. R. F. Garbett
663	3 November 1890	Thomas James Kennedy Form Matilda Ward	Thomas James Stone Matilda Ward 💍 1890/1686	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist Dressmaker	24 23	Christchurch Ashburton	1 month 10 years	Episcopal Church Avonside	90/3386		3 November 1890	Revd. William Augustus Pascoe
664	4 November 1890	George Edward Parker Alice Maud Hutchinson	George Edward Parker Alice Maria Hutchinson 💍 1890/3440	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 25	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 1 year	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton	90/3506		4 November 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
665	8 November 1890	Frederick George Capon Kate Isabella Bennison	Frederick George Capon Kate Isabella Bennison 💍 1890/3418	Widower Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	37 25	Lauriston, Winchmore Willowby	13 years 4 months	The private Dwellinghouse of William Aitkin at Willowby	90/3508		8 November 1890	Revd. Joseph St. Gray
666	12 November 1890	John Blackburn Elizabeth Magee or McFee	John Blackburn Elizabeth McGhee 💍 1890/3420	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	37 24	Dromore Dromore	2 years 3 months	Registrar's Office Ashburton	90/3510		12 November 1890	J. Ward, Registrar
667	28 November 1890	Thomas Wilson Grace Eva Horne	Thomas Wilson Grace Eva Worne 💍 1890/3422 Thomas Wilson Margaret Blackstock 💍 1890/2066	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	24 22	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 3 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Thomas Wilson at Allenton	90/3512		28 November 1890	Revd. James Cocker
668	6 December 1890	William James Marshall Martha Anderson	William James Marshall Martha Anderson 💍 1890/3424	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 20	Flemington Flemington	2 years 12 years	Presbyterian Church Flemington	90/3514	Henry Anderson, father	6 December 1890	Revd. A. Blake
669	13 December 1890	Matthew Stitt Marian Kidd	Matthew Stitt Marian Kidd 💍 1890/3441	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	48 28	Winchmore Ashburton	27 years 15 years	Private Dwellinghouse of George Kidd at Ashburton	90/3504		13 December 1890	Revd. A. M. Beattie
670	22 December 1890	Charles William Goodwillie Elizabeth Lyon	Charles William Goodwillie Elizabeth Lyon 💍 1890/3421	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 21	Ashburton Ashburton	3 months 2 weeks	Registrar's Office Ashburton	90/3511		22 December 1890	J. Ward, Registrar
671	24 December 1890	Isaac William Tyrell Baxter Mary Elizabeth Freeby	Isaac William Tyrrell Baxter Mary Elizabeth Treeby 💍 1890/3439	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Domestic Servant	25 24	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 2 weeks	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	90/3505		24 December 1890	Revd. E. A. Scott

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).