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 440

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1890

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

179

28 April 1890

Henry Pickford
Lucy Jane Darling

Henry Plaisted King Alfred Sills
Lucy Jane Harling
💍 1890/812

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
23

Kaihue
College Road Auckland

20 years
23 years

All Saints Church

90/963

28 April 1890

Rev. M. Calder Ch. of England

No	179
Date of Notice	28 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Pickford	Lucy Jane Darling
BDM Match (63%)	Henry Plaisted King Alfred Sills	Lucy Jane Harling
	💍 1890/812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Kaihue	College Road Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	90/963
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Calder Ch. of England

180

28 April 1890

Robinson otherwise Robertson
Amy Frances Skelton Audley

Bachelor
Spinster

Officer

35
25

Adelaide
Auckland

24 years
25 years

Church of Holy Sepulchre

90/972

28 April 1890

Right Rev. M. Cowie Ch. of England

No	180
Date of Notice	28 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robinson otherwise Robertson	Amy Frances Skelton Audley
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Officer
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Adelaide	Auckland
Length of Residence	24 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Sepulchre
Folio	90/972
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. M. Cowie Ch. of England

181

28 April 1890

William Rosser
Charlotte Reddington

William Rosser
Charlotte Wedding
💍 1890/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

29
21

Parnell
Parnell

26 years
21 years

Church of St. Mary

90/1037

29 April 1890

Rev. F. H. Preston Ch. of England

No	181
Date of Notice	28 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rosser	Charlotte Reddington
BDM Match (90%)	William Rosser	Charlotte Wedding
	💍 1890/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. Mary
Folio	90/1037
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Preston Ch. of England

182

28 April 1890

Henry Joseph Moorhead
Emma Wilson Brown

Henry Joseph Moorhead
Emma Phileni Brown
💍 1890/3623

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
22 years

Church of St. David

90/1005

28 April 1890

Rev. R. R. West Presbyterian

No	182
Date of Notice	28 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Joseph Moorhead	Emma Wilson Brown
BDM Match (86%)	Henry Joseph Moorhead	Emma Phileni Brown
	💍 1890/3623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of St. David
Folio	90/1005
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. West Presbyterian

183

29 April 1890

Benjamin Holmes
Jane Ballantyne

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
24

Mahurangi
Wellington

30 years
24 years

Dwelling of James Ballantyne

90/1019

29 April 1890

Rev. R. McKinney Presbyterian

No	183
Date of Notice	29 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Holmes	Jane Ballantyne
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Mahurangi	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Ballantyne
Folio	90/1019
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. McKinney Presbyterian

184

29 April 1890

Robert Grant
Sarah Osborne

Robert Hunt
Sarah Osborn
💍 1890/874

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

29
25

Onehunga
Epsom

10 years
25 years

Dwelling of Rev. J. H. Miller

90/1009

29 April 1890

Rev. J. H. Miller Cong. Indept.

No	184
Date of Notice	29 April 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Grant	Sarah Osborne
BDM Match (84%)	Robert Hunt	Sarah Osborn
	💍 1890/874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Epsom
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev. J. H. Miller
Folio	90/1009
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Miller Cong. Indept.

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 1903. 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).