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 1443

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar J. P. Paulleeson

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
411	22 December 1890	Thomas Michael Morrissey Annie Maude Eggleton	Thomas Michael Morrissey Annie Maude Eggleton 💍 1890/1732	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 16 years	St. Michaels Church	90/3428	Harrison Eggleton, father	22 December 1890	Rev W. Harper, Church of England
412	22 December 1890	Isaac William Turner Amy Haworth	Isaac William Turner Amy Hawarth 💍 1890/3532	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	22 20	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 10 years	Wesleyan Church, Colombo Rd	90/3455	James Haworth, father	22 December 1890	Rev J. [illegible] Isitt, Wesleyan
413	22 December 1890	William Thomas Neigh Harriet Ada Robins	William Thomas Naish Harriet Ada Robins 💍 1890/3253	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 2 years	Registrars Office	90/3487		22 December 1890	J. P. Paulleeson
414	22 December 1890	Andrew Schumacher Annie Martha Etheridge	Andrew Schummacher Annie Martha Etheridge 💍 1890/1681	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 22	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 17 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Papanui	90/3400		22 December 1890	Rev C. H. Tizardage, Wesleyan
415	22 December 1890	Robert Curdin Pegg Emily Jane Blunt	Robert Cusdin Pegg Emily Jane Blunt 💍 1890/1666	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 3 years	House of Mr. R. C. Pegg, St. Asaph St.	90/3459		22 December 1890	Rev W. S. Potter, Primitive Methodist
416	23 December 1890	Walter James Clark Annie Eliza Streeter	Walter James Clark Annie Eliza Streeter 💍 1890/1652	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 2 years	St. Andrews Manse, Terrace Rd.	90/3445		23 December 1890	Rev G. Webster, Presbyterian
417	23 December 1890	Rodger Russell Hutchinson Janet Hutchinson	Rodger Russell Janet Hutchison 💍 1890/1743	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	38 24	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 16 years	St. Lukes Church, Manchester Street	90/3416		23 December 1890	The Archdeacon Lingard, 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 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).