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 1471

District of Quiaum Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Shand Hanley

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
74	1 December 1890	Sidney Robert Wright Jessie Susan Harris	Sidney Robert Wright Jessie Susan Harris 💍 1890/3268	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Housemaid	22 years 22 years	Quiaum Quiaum	3 days 7 months	St. Mary's English Church, Quiaum	90/3535	1 December 1890	Ven. Archdeacon Henry William Harper. Church of England Minister.
75	1 December 1890	Walter Norman Butterworth Elizabeth Ann West	Walter Norman Butterworth Elizabeth Ann West 💍 1890/3282	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Cook	29 years 27 years	Quiaum Quiaum	29 years 4 years	Residence of Mr. Walter Scarf, Barnard Street, Quiaum	90/3528	1 December 1890	Revd. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.
76	6 December 1890	William Henry Allan Emily Godstrey	William Henry Allan Emily Goostrey 💍 1890/3434	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	25 years 21 years	Makikihi Makikihi	4 years 14 years	Dwelling house of Mr. W. A. Godstrey at Makikihi	90/3523	6 December 1890	Revd. L. Carsley Brady. Church of England Minister.
77	18 December 1890	Charles Henry Inglis Ada Maud Mannering	Charles Henry Inglis Ada Maud Mannering 💍 1890/3208	Bachelor Spinster	Manager Farmers' Cooperative association	30 years 25 years	Quiaum Fernside	6 months 20 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Fernside, Rangiora	90/3365	18 December 1890	Ven. Archdeacon Benjamin Woolley Dudley. M.A. Canon Church of England Minister.
78	18 December 1890	William Torrance Mary Ann Alexander	William Torrance Mary Ann Alexander 💍 1890/3283	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 years 22 years	Quiaum Quiaum	20 years 5 years	Presbyterian Manse	90/3529	18 December 1890	Revd. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.
79	19 December 1890	James Whittaker Annie Gertrude Clarkson	James Whittaker Annie Gertrude Clarkson 💍 1890/3270	Bachelor Spinster	Pastrycook	22 years 22 years	Quiaum Quiaum	22 years 4 years	Residence of Thomas Nicholson Clarkson, Le Preux Terrace, Quiaum.	90/3537	19 December 1890	Revd. Charles Crisp Brown. Baptist Minister.
80	22 December 1890	Joseph Shepherd Bennett Annie Eliza Smith	Joseph Shepherd Bennett Annie Eliza Smith 💍 1891/3141	Bachelor Spinster	Furniture dealer Housekeeper	44 years 22 years	Quiaum Quiaum	25 years 6 months	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Quiaum	91/702	22 December 1890	Ven. Archdeacon Henry William Harper. Church of England Minister.
81	23 December 1890	David Bettune Emma Mary Edwards	David Bethune Emma Mary Edwards 💍 1890/3284	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Machinist	28 years 28 years	Quiaum Quiaum	5 Weeks 3 days	Presbyterian Church	90/3530	23 December 1890	Revd. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.
82	24 December 1890	William Anderson Catherine Ryan	William Anderson Catharine Ryan 💍 1891/3127	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	40 years 27 years	Pareora Quiaum	12 years 15 months	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Quiaum	91/689	24 December 1890	Revd. James Foley. Roman Catholic Clergyman.
83	30 December 1890	David Sturrock Sarah Norris English	David Sturrock Sarah Norris English 💍 1890/3286	Widower Spinster	Engineer	39 years 38 years	Quiaum Quiaum	6 years 6 years	Residence of Mr. David Sturrock, Edward Street, Quiaum.	90/3532	30 December 1890	Revd. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.
184	31 December 1890	James Russell Bruce Annie Graham Bruce	James Russell Bruce Annie Graham Bruce 💍 1890/3285	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 years 31 years	Quiaum Quiaum	4 days 12 years	Residence of Mr. James Bruce, Sarah Street, Quiaum.	90/3531	31 December 1890	Revd. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.

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).