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 1224

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
416	29 October 1890	Robert James Tothage Elizabeth Emma Bright	James Northage Elizabeth Emma Bright 💍 1890/2822	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker [illegible]	28 21	Parnell Remuera	6 years 21 years	Church of St Luke	90/2933		29 October 1890	Rev. J. B. Monro, Presbyterian
417	29 October 1890	William Booth Mary Jane Selkirk	William Boak Mary Jane Geddis 💍 1890/2855 William Scott Mary Jane Ingram 💍 1890/2711 William Peacock Mary Jane White 💍 1890/751 William Honeybun Mary Jane Winter 💍 1890/1054	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller [illegible]	35 23	Ponsonby Ponsonby	35 years 23 years	St Mary's Church	90/2892		29 October 1890	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
418	29 October 1890	Tom James Alice Jane Tait	John James Stone Hunt Alice Jane Tait 💍 1890/2759	Bachelor Spinster	Minister Agent	21 20	Mt Eden Ponsonby	21 years 20 years	Alexander Street Dwelling	90/2868	Alexander Tait, Father	29 October 1890	Rev. J. Smith, Presbyterian
419	29 October 1890	William Robinson Lucy Eleanor Smith	William Robinson Walker Lucy Eleanor Smith 💍 1890/2900	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman [illegible]	32 19	Ponsonby Auckland	32 years 10 years	Registrar's Office	90/2951	George Smith, Father	29 October 1890	J. Owen Lord, Registrar
420	29 October 1890	Francis Thomas Nicholson Louisa Collman	Francis Thomas Nicholson Louisa Colbran 💍 1890/2905	Bachelor Spinster	Tram Conductor [illegible]	20 20	Ponsonby Ponsonby	20 years 20 years	Registrar's Office	90/2956		29 October 1890	J. Owen Lord, Registrar
421	29 October 1890	Robert Henry Baker Annie Lillian Florence Savage	Robert Henry Codlin Lillian Florence Savage 💍 1890/2901	Bachelor Spinster	[illegible] [illegible]	20 19	Onehunga Devonport	20 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	90/2952	Annie Collins, Mother	29 October 1890	J. Owen Lord, Registrar
422	29 October 1890	George Eaton Mary O'Halloran	George Paton Mary Hall 💍 1890/2848	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	32 28	Epsom One Tree Hill	32 years 28 years	St Andrew's Church	90/2908		31 October 1890	Rev. J. Marshall, 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).