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 303

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar A. R. Ure Reg

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

21 January 1890

George Rankin
Mary Louisa Terry

George Rankin
Mary Louisa Terry
💍 1890/593

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

23 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
25 years

In the house of George Terry, Hill Street

90/692

21 January 1890

Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	22
Date of Notice	21 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rankin	Mary Louisa Terry
	💍 1890/593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	23 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of George Terry, Hill Street
Folio	90/692
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

22 January 1890

William Peacock
Mary Jane White

William Peacock
Mary Jane White
💍 1890/751

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmoulder

23 years
23 years

Ravensbourne
Ravensbourne

5 months
6 weeks

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

90/731

22 January 1890

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	23
Date of Notice	22 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peacock	Mary Jane White
	💍 1890/751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmoulder
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Ravensbourne	Ravensbourne
Length of Residence	5 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	90/731
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1890
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

22 January 1890

John Thomas Macey
Minnie Dykins

John Thomas Macey
Minnie Dykins
💍 1890/733

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

21 years
18 years

St. Clair
St. Clair

4 months
5 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

90/735

no person in the Colony to give consent to minor

5 February 1890

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	24
Date of Notice	22 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Macey	Minnie Dykins
	💍 1890/733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	St. Clair	St. Clair
Length of Residence	4 months	5 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	90/735
Consent	no person in the Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	5 February 1890
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

25 January 1890

William Annetts
Emma Jane Coleman

William Annetts
Emma Jane Coleman
💍 1890/752

Widower
Spinster

Brewer

42 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages

90/732

25 January 1890

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	25
Date of Notice	25 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Annetts	Emma Jane Coleman
	💍 1890/752
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	42 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	90/732
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1890
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

27 January 1890

Murdock Graham
Marion Matheson

Murdoch Graham
Marion Matheson
💍 1890/592

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

38 years
29 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
1 week

In the house of Alexander Matheson, Roslyn

90/691

27 January 1890

Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	26
Date of Notice	27 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdock Graham	Marion Matheson
BDM Match (96%)	Murdoch Graham	Marion Matheson
	💍 1890/592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	38 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	In the house of Alexander Matheson, Roslyn
Folio	90/691
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

27 January 1890

John Pollock
Mary Mills

John Pollock
Mary Mills
💍 1890/600

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27 years
20 years

Maori Hill
Maori Hill

14 years
6 months

In the house of John Pollock, Maori Hill

90/698

no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor

10 February 1890

Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

No	27
Date of Notice	27 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pollock	Mary Mills
	💍 1890/600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Maori Hill	Maori Hill
Length of Residence	14 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of John Pollock, Maori Hill
Folio	90/698
Consent	no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor
Date of Certificate	10 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart, Presbyterian Minister

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).