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 1230

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1890

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
460	3 December 1890	James Lover Christina McFarlane	James Gover Shove Christina McFarlane 💍 1890/2918	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	25 23	Ponsonby Mt Eden	6 yrs 6 yrs	Dwelling of John McFarlane, Mt Eden Road	90/2946		3 December 1890	Rev E O Perry, El. Methodist
461	3 December 1890	George Tennent Lady Ellen Chute	George Tennant Carre Ellen Chute 💍 1890/2750	Widower Widow	Colonel	50 41	Remuera Epsom	4 mos 3 yrs	Hmas Church of St Mark	90/2881		3 December 1890	Right Rev Bishop C.E.
462	4 December 1890	Henry McCarty Sarah Mary Maxwell	Henry McCarthy Maud Mary Maxwell 💍 1890/2841	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	26 20	Birkenhead Northcote	8 yrs 10 yrs	Dwelling Joseph Maxwell, Northcote	90/2902	Joseph Maxwell, Father	4 December 1890	Rev R A McCallum, Presbyterian
463	5 December 1890	George Henry Barrington Anna Sibina Opitz	George Henry Harrington Anna Sime 💍 1890/2908	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	27 25	Ponsonby Auckland	3 yrs 25 yrs	Dwelling of John Sinde, Cook Street, Auckland	90/2940		5 December 1890	Mr George Aldridge, Ch of Christ
464	5 December 1890	Lee McKinstry Amelia Millicent Blake	Lee McKinstry Amelia Williamson Blake 💍 1890/3516	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 24	Auckland Auckland	18 mos 4 yrs	Dwelling of Lee McKinstry, Church St, Ponsonby	90/3790		5 December 1890	Rev J H Robertson, Presbyterian
465	5 December 1890	George Lucas Mewes Hannah Maria Penny	George Lucas Hannah Maria Glenny 💍 1890/2842	Widower Spinster	Storekeeper	59 49	Napier Napier	1 1/2 yrs 16 yrs	Dwelling of Rev E O Perry, Avondale	90/2903		5 December 1890	Rev E O Perry, El. Methodist
466	6 December 1890	Charles Harding Kate Edith Browning	Charles Harding Godself Newman Kate Edith Browning 💍 1890/2747	Bachelor Spinster	Boot Finisher	25 23	Devonport Devonport	1 year 8 mos	Holy Trinity Church	90/2878		6 December 1890	Rev J Bates, Ch of England
467	8 December 1890	Frank Bell Mary Agnes Collie	Frank Bell Mary Agnes Goldie 💍 1890/2837	Widower Spinster	Engineer	35 24	Whangarei Ponsonby	25 yrs 10 yrs	Dwelling of Thomas Collie, Ponsonby Residence	90/2898	Thomas Collie, Father	8 December 1890	Rev R F Macnicol, Presbyterian

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).