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 249

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
55	24 February 1890	Walter Hazelwood Fanny Jenkins	Walter Hazelwood Fanny Jenkins 💍 1890/476	Bachelor Spinster	Thoraceman Housekeeper	46 35	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 1 week	Registrars Office	90/549	24 February 1890	Registrar J. M. Mulliss
56	25 February 1890	James Mitchell Eliza Carr	James Mitchell Fisher Eliza Carr 💍 1890/383	Widower Widow	Labourer	55 51	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 14 years	St. Lukes Church	90/476	25 February 1890	Rev. C. Brigand, Church of England
57	26 February 1890	Tom Smith Catherine Harris	Tom Smith Catherine Harris 💍 1890/81	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 9 years	St. Michaels Church	90/503	26 February 1890	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
58	26 February 1890	Thomas George Nozee Bessie Houston Straw	Thomas George Voyce Bessie Hinston Straw 💍 1890/787	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 20 years	House of Mr. G. F. Straw, Oxford Terrace West	90/912	26 February 1890	Rev. W. Ready, Bible Christian
59	26 February 1890	Robert Berte Eliza Clarke	Robert Berti Eliza Clarke 💍 1890/2671	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller Dressmaker	23 24	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 6 years	St. Johns Church	90/521	26 February 1890	Rev. J. C. B. Hoare, Church of England
60	27 February 1890	George Forbes Edith Helen Hurrell	George Forbes Campbell Edith Helen Hurrell 💍 1890/477	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman Dressmaker	21 21	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 21 years	Registrars Office	90/550	27 February 1890	Registrar J. M. Mulliss
61	27 February 1890	Charles Musson Elizabeth Yobris	Charles Musson Elizabeth Tobin 💍 1890/478	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	50 43	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 25 years	Registrars Office	90/551	27 February 1890	Registrar J. M. Mulliss
62	28 February 1890	John Thomas Diamond Emma Martin	John Thomas Diamond Emma Martin 💍 1890/100	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Housekeeper	39 25	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 2 years	St. Lukes Church	90/477	28 February 1890	Ven. Archdeacon Dudley, 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 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).