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 1439

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar J. Mallinson

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
381	1 December 1890	George Durrant Margaret Breslin	George Durant Margaret Breslin 💍 1890/1655	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	28 30	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 13 years	Roman Catholic Ch[urch]	90/3448	1 December 1890	Rev J. Cummings Roman Catholic
382	2 December 1890	William Peter Cross Margaret Johnston	William Peter Cross Margaret Johnston 💍 1890/3239	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	42 34	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 3 days	Registrars Office	90/3483	2 December 1890	Registrar Marriages J Mallinson
383	2 December 1890	James Henry Ashworth Mary Harper	James Henry Ashworth Mary Harper 💍 1890/3236	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 21	Christchurch Avonside	31 years 21 years	House of Mr Stephen Harper	90/3462	2 December 1890	Rev R. Taylor Wesleyan
384	3 December 1890	James Hill Charlotte Melbourne	James Hill Charlotte Melbourne 💍 1890/3839	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	22 21	Christchurch North Belt	16 years 6 years	House of Mr Ritchie	90/3470	3 December 1890	Rev W C Oliver Wesleyan
385	4 December 1890	Leonard Charles Lucas Augusta Christina Frohm	Leonard Charles Lucas Augusta Christina Frahm 💍 1890/1742	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	23 25	Christchurch Manchester St	8 years 8 years	St Lukes Church	90/3415	4 December 1890	Rev Archdeacon Lingard Church of England
386	4 December 1890	William Ward Pointon Eliza Hamilton	William Ward Pointon Eliza Hamilton 💍 1890/1741	Widower Widow	Chemist	44 34	Christchurch Manchester St	6 weeks 6 years	St Lukes Church	90/3414	4 December 1890	Rev Archdeacon Lingard Church of England
387	8 December 1890	William Gordon Digby Catherine Hettie Pickett	William Nordon Digby Catherine Hettie Pickett 💍 1890/1693	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 26	Christchurch Avonside	15 years 4 years	Holy Trinity Church	90/3387	8 December 1890	Rev W A Pascoe Church of England
388	8 December 1890	Henry Voght Rebecca Forrest	Henry Voght Rebecca Forrest 💍 1890/1664	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Dressmaker	23 22	Christchurch Lincoln Road	23 years 13 years	House of Rev A Dewdney	90/3457	8 December 1890	Rev A Dewdney Baptist

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).