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 506

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 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
23	16 May 1890	Charles Willis Thomas Glover Lucy Smith	Charles Willis Thomas Glover Lucy Smith 💍 1890/1139	Bachelor Widow	Glassman	42 43	Wanganui Wanganui	14 yrs. 3 yrs.	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	90/1177		16 May 1890	S.F. Noon, Registrar
24	19 May 1890	James Henry Purnell Margaret Emma Hind	James Henry Purnell Margaret Emma Lind 💍 1890/1135	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 21	Wanganui Wanganui	15 yrs. 21 yrs.	In the residence of Mr. Davis, Hind St., St. John's Hill	90/1173		19 May 1890	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
25	20 May 1890	Martin Purcell Mary Ann Brook	Martin Purcell Mary Ann Crook 💍 1890/1149	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 26	Wanganui Wanganui	14 days 6 wks	In the residence of Rev. James Treadwell, Wanganui	90/1172		20 May 1890	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
26	21 May 1890	William Henry Jones Constance Matilda Collard	William Henry Jones Constance Matilda Collard 💍 1890/1134	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 25	Wanganui Aramoho	4 yrs. 12 mos.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	90/1162		21 May 1890	T.H. Tudor, Church of England
27	4 June 1890	Farquhar Finlayson Barbara Murray	Farquhar Finlayson Barbara Murray 💍 1890/1136	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	28 22	Wanganui Wanganui	6 mos. 4 yrs.	In the residence of Mr. Robert Murray, St. Hill St., Wanganui	90/1174		4 June 1890	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
28	10 June 1890	Joseph Ryburn Elizabeth Jones	Joseph Dytam Elizabeth Jones 💍 1890/1123	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	41 46	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs. 3 wks	In the residence of Mr. Ed. Kinkade, Harrison St., Wanganui	90/1158		10 June 1890	T.K. Drewsbury, Wesleyan
29	11 June 1890	John Collingwood Kate Flora Sowden Stonell - with sur. name Morgan	John Collingwood Kate Flora Lowder Stouell 💍 1890/1124	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 18	Wanganui Aramoho	10 yrs. 7 yrs.	In the residence of Mr. W. Collingwood, Harrison Street, Wanganui	90/1159	having authority to give consent	25 June 1890	T.K. Drewsbury, Wesleyan
30	23 June 1890	Gifford Marshall Ada Murray Russell	Gifford Marstall Ada Murray Rapell 💍 1890/3830	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	31 27	Wanganui Wanganui	12 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	90/1163		23 June 1890	T.H. Tudor, Church of England
31	24 June 1890	James Coutts Dallas Eliza Amelia Wakefield	James Coutts Dallas Eliza Amelia Wakefield 💍 1890/3804	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	22 22	Wanganui Wanganui	22 yrs. 6 mos.	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	90/1178		24 June 1890	S.F. Noon, Registrar

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).