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 1568

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar John Winstanley Wilkin

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
74	1 October 1890	John Hughes Mary Hosbinder	John Hughes Mary Fosbender 💍 1890/3524	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	39 27	Invercargill Drew River, Riverton	9 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Riverton	90/3749		1 October 1890	Rev. Mr. Walsh
75	8 October 1890	Archibald McLubosh Ann Robertson	Archibald McIntosh Ann Robertson 💍 1890/1777	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	35 24	Invercargill Waranuwa	1 week 24 years	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill	90/3745		8 October 1890	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar
76	15 October 1890	John Henderson Emmie Brind	John Henderson McGaw Minnie Brind 💍 1890/3454	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	32 21	Invercargill Invercargill	8 years 6 months	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, Invercargill	90/3726		15 October 1890	Rev. Geo. Lindsay
77	18 October 1890	George Stephen Laurence Mary Ethel Cockburn	George Stephen Lawrence Mary Steel Cockburn 💍 1890/1789	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 19	Invercargill Invercargill	8 months 15 years	House of Mrs. Mary Jarvie, Mother of Groom, Steel Cockburn	90/3736	Mary Jarvie, Mother of Groom	18 October 1890	Rev. T. H. Lyon
78	31 October 1890	Malcolm Macdonald Elspeth Robertson	Malcolm Macdonald Elspeth Robertson 💍 1890/1791	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 25	Invercargill Invercargill	4 days 25 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Invercargill	90/3738		31 October 1890	Rev. James Guy
79	3 November 1890	Frank Ayling Ida Mary Stick Varcoe	Frank Ayling Eda Mary Stick Varcoe 💍 1890/1793	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 25	Edwood, Invercargill East Invercargill	15 years 8 years	House of Mr. Josiah Varcoe, Edwick St.	90/3740		3 November 1890	Rev. Jas. Guy
80	4 November 1890	William Harlow Jane Melville Ferguson	William Harlon Jane Melville Ferguson 💍 1890/3455	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 19	Invercargill Invercargill	25 years 7 years	House of Mr. Robert Charles R. C. Ferguson, Father	90/3727	Robert Charles R. C. Ferguson, Father	4 November 1890	Rev. Geo. Lindsay
81	6 November 1890	Henry Adie Adamson Julia Johanna Gertrude Semmelhaack	Henry Adie Adamson Julia Johanna Gertrude Semmelhaack 💍 1890/1773	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 29	Invercargill Invercargill	18 months 3 weeks	House of Rev. J. Guy, Esk St.	90/3741		6 November 1890	Rev. Jas. Guy

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).