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 247

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Henry Slater

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

5 February 1890

Paul Eugene Bean
Ida Sumpton

Paul Eugene Bean
Ida Simpson
💍 1890/3660

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station Master

28
28

Amuri
Christchurch

3 weeks
10 years

Church of England, Kirwee

90/539

5 February 1890

Rev Thomas Hodgson, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	5 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Eugene Bean	Ida Sumpton
BDM Match (91%)	Paul Eugene Bean	Ida Simpson
	💍 1890/3660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Master
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Amuri	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kirwee
Folio	90/539
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Hodgson, Church of England

6 February 1890

Samuel Arthur Clayton James
Julia Elizabeth Voice

Samuel Arthur Clayton James
Julia Elizabeth Voice
💍 1890/2672

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

26
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

15 years
24 years

St Saviour's Church

90/525

6 February 1890

Rev W. T. Knowles, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	6 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Arthur Clayton James	Julia Elizabeth Voice
	💍 1890/2672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	15 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St Saviour's Church
Folio	90/525
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev W. T. Knowles, Church of England

7 February 1890

Frederick Albert Godfrey
Isabella Shepheard

Frederick Albert Godfrey
Isabella Shephard
💍 1890/2669

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

16 years
10 years

Baptist Church

90/669

7 February 1890

Rev C. Dallaston, Baptist

No	42
Date of Notice	7 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Albert Godfrey	Isabella Shepheard
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick Albert Godfrey	Isabella Shephard
	💍 1890/2669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	90/669
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Dallaston, Baptist

7 February 1890

John Holland
Ellen Wreaks

John Holland
Ellen Wreats
💍 1890/2093

Widower
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

39
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
2 years

St Paul's Church

90/923

7 February 1890

Bp of Christchurch, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	7 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Holland	Ellen Wreaks
BDM Match (96%)	John Holland	Ellen Wreats
	💍 1890/2093
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church
Folio	90/923
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Bp of Christchurch, Church of England

10 February 1890

Robert Cochrane
Winifred Agnes Neil

Robert Cochrane
Winifred Agnes O'Neil
💍 1890/764

Widower
Spinster

Draper

31
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
11 days

House of Rev J. Elmshie, Lichfield Street, Ch Ch

90/885

10 February 1890

Rev J. Elmshie, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	10 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cochrane	Winifred Agnes Neil
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Cochrane	Winifred Agnes O'Neil
	💍 1890/764
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev J. Elmshie, Lichfield Street, Ch Ch
Folio	90/885
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Elmshie, Presbyterian

11 February 1890

Alexander Cown
Henrietta Frances Burrell

Alexander Cowan
Henrietta Frances Burrell
💍 1890/82

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

11 months
21 years

House of Mr John Burrell, 153 Chester Street, Ch Ch

90/515

10 February 1890

Rev P. H. Munro, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	11 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cown	Henrietta Frances Burrell
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Cowan	Henrietta Frances Burrell
	💍 1890/82
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	11 months	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Burrell, 153 Chester Street, Ch Ch
Folio	90/515
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev P. H. Munro, Presbyterian

11 February 1890

George Edwin Seamer
Isabel Mabel Elmhirst Reader

George Edwin Deamer
Mabel Reader
💍 1890/220

Bachelor
Spinster

Physician
Reader

32
24

Christchurch
Wellington

28 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph

90/948

11 February 1890

Very Rev Felix Waters, Roman Catholic

No	46
Date of Notice	11 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwin Seamer	Isabel Mabel Elmhirst Reader
BDM Match (69%)	George Edwin Deamer	Mabel Reader
	💍 1890/220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Physician	Reader
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of St Joseph
Folio	90/948
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Very Rev Felix Waters, Roman Catholic

11 February 1890

Reginald John Ford
Lucy Whybra Mumford

Reginald John Ford
Lucy Whybra Mumford
💍 1890/109

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

24
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
17 years

Church of England, New Brighton

90/494

Lucy Mumford, mother

11 February 1890

Rev J. N. Inwood, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	11 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald John Ford	Lucy Whybra Mumford
	💍 1890/109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	24	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, New Brighton
Folio	90/494
Consent	Lucy Mumford, mother
Date of Certificate	11 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J. N. Inwood, 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 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).