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 1540

District of Gore Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Theodor King

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

3 October 1890

John Davin
Hannah Neville

John Davin
Hannah Neville
💍 1890/3378

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
29

Gore
Gore

3 weeks
5 years

R.C. Church at Gore

90/3704

3 October 1890

Rev W.J. Newport R.C. Clergyman Gore

No	17
Date of Notice	3 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Davin	Hannah Neville
	💍 1890/3378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	R.C. Church at Gore
Folio	90/3704
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev W.J. Newport R.C. Clergyman Gore

20 October 1890

Samuel Forsyth
Lilias Coutts

Samuel Forsyth
Lilias Coutts
💍 1890/3453

Bachelor
Widow

Teacher

45
40

Gore
Gore

4 years
7 years

Residence of Mrs Lilias Coutts Gordon

90/3708

20 October 1890

Rev. C. Abernethy Wesleyan Clergyman Gore

No	18
Date of Notice	20 October 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Forsyth	Lilias Coutts
	💍 1890/3453
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Teacher
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Lilias Coutts Gordon
Folio	90/3708
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Abernethy Wesleyan Clergyman Gore

4 November 1890

Thomas William Hall Lynch
Katherine Josephine Walsh

Thomas William Hall Lynch
Katerine Josephine Walsh
💍 1890/3379

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Guard

26
24

(Balclutha) Gore
Gore

3 days
3 years

Railway Hotel Pukerau

90/3705

4 November 1890

Rev W.J. Newport R.C. Clergyman Gore

No	19
Date of Notice	4 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Hall Lynch	Katherine Josephine Walsh
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas William Hall Lynch	Katerine Josephine Walsh
	💍 1890/3379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	(Balclutha) Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Railway Hotel Pukerau
Folio	90/3705
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev W.J. Newport R.C. Clergyman Gore

5 November 1890

Albert Hey
Hannah Clarinda Harrison Martin

Albert Hey
Hannah Clarinda Harrison Martin
💍 1890/3442

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
19

Arthurton Gore
Arthurton Gore

10 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church Gore

90/3707 Deferred Certificate

19 November 1890

Rev. C. Abernethy Wesleyan Clergyman Gore

No	20
Date of Notice	5 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hey	Hannah Clarinda Harrison Martin
	💍 1890/3442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Arthurton Gore	Arthurton Gore
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Gore
Folio	90/3707 Deferred Certificate
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Abernethy Wesleyan Clergyman Gore

17 November 1890

William Filmoure
Mary Meredith

William Gilmore
Mary Meredith
💍 1890/3523

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
21

Mandeville Gore
Croydon Gore

9 years
6 months

Residence of Mr John Nicholson at Croydon

90/3695

17 November 1890

Rev Sydney Hawthorne English Church Clergyman Gore

No	21
Date of Notice	17 November 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Filmoure	Mary Meredith
BDM Match (94%)	William Gilmore	Mary Meredith
	💍 1890/3523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Mandeville Gore	Croydon Gore
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Nicholson at Croydon
Folio	90/3695
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Sydney Hawthorne English Church Clergyman Gore

1 December 1890

John Waddell
Susan Richmond

John Waddell
Susan Richmond
💍 1890/1772

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
25

Gore
Gore

4 days
1 year

Presbyterian Manse Gordon

90/3732

1 December 1890

Rev John Ferguson (of Edendale) Presbyterian Clergyman Gore

No	22
Date of Notice	1 December 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Waddell	Susan Richmond
	💍 1890/1772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Gordon
Folio	90/3732
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson (of Edendale) Presbyterian Clergyman Gore

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 1903. 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).