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 1512

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Thomas Minickliff

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

13 October 1890

John Esse
Louis Sarah Heale

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship Steward

47
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

4 days
24 years

Congregational Church

90/3669

13 October 1890

Rev. W. Mc. Grant Congregational

No	14
Date of Notice	13 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Esse	Louis Sarah Heale
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship Steward
Age	47	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	90/3669
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Mc. Grant Congregational

7 November 1890

John Godfrey Smith
Maggie Ferguson

John Godfrey Smith
Margaret Jackson Ferguson
💍 1890/1707

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman

26
21

Hamilton Bay Port Chalmers
Cowes Harbour Port Chalmers

17 years
3 years

House of Rev. F. C. Platts

90/3665

7 November 1890

Rev. F. C. Platts Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	7 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Godfrey Smith	Maggie Ferguson
BDM Match (76%)	John Godfrey Smith	Margaret Jackson Ferguson
	💍 1890/1707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton Bay Port Chalmers	Cowes Harbour Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. C. Platts
Folio	90/3665
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Platts Church of England

28 November 1890

George Manning
Sarah Ann Jackson Lean

George Manning
Sarah Ann Jackson Lean
💍 1890/1710

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

42
25

Sauyers Bay Port Chalmers
The Rocks Port Chalmers

33 years
25 years

House of Richd. Lean

90/3668

28 November 1890

Rev. W. Mc. Grant Congregational

No	16
Date of Notice	28 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Manning	Sarah Ann Jackson Lean
	💍 1890/1710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Sauyers Bay Port Chalmers	The Rocks Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	33 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Richd. Lean
Folio	90/3668
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Mc. Grant Congregational

3 December 1890

Charles Stevenson
Isabella Bradley

Charles Stevenson
Isabella Buckley
💍 1890/1708

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Servant

24
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

14 years
23 years

House of Rev. J. Ryley

90/3666

3 December 1890

Rev. J. Ryley Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	3 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stevenson	Isabella Bradley
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Stevenson	Isabella Buckley
	💍 1890/1708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	14 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Ryley
Folio	90/3666
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley Presbyterian

17 December 1890

James Thomas Downes
Rachael Tollech

James Thomas Downes
Rachel Pollock Fogo
💍 1890/1709

Bachelor
Spinster

Currier
Dressmaker

27
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
14 years

House of John Tago

90/3667

17 December 1890

Rev. J. Ryley Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	17 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Downes	Rachael Tollech
BDM Match (76%)	James Thomas Downes	Rachel Pollock Fogo
	💍 1890/1709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Currier	Dressmaker
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	House of John Tago
Folio	90/3667
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ryley Presbyterian

30 December 1890

Alexander Jacob Osborn
Mary Brough

Alexander Jacob Osborn
Mary Ann Brough
💍 1891/3750

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic Servant

26
26

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

26 years
6 years

House of Martha Osborn

9/831

30 December 1890

Rev. F. C. Platts Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	30 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Jacob Osborn	Mary Brough
BDM Match (87%)	Alexander Jacob Osborn	Mary Ann Brough
	💍 1891/3750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic Servant
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	26 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Martha Osborn
Folio	9/831
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Platts 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).