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 176

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar Sydney I Sago

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

2 January 1890

James Sanders
Eliza Williams

James Sanders
Elizabeth Williams
💍 1890/696

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer
Domestic

38
35

Woodville Napier over
Woodville Napier over

3 Months 3 days
15 months 3 days

Residence of Rev David Sidey, Napier

90/338

2 January 1890

Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sanders	Eliza Williams
BDM Match (89%)	James Sanders	Elizabeth Williams
	💍 1890/696
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Woodville Napier over	Woodville Napier over
Length of Residence	3 Months 3 days	15 months 3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev David Sidey, Napier
Folio	90/338
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian

3 January 1890

Uno Thure Gideon Widerstrom
Winnifred Eva Pannion

Uno Thure Gideon Widerstrond
Winifred Eva Tannion
💍 1890/505

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

34
22

Napier
Napier

10 days
several years

Wesleyan Chapel, Napier

90/367

3 January 1890

Rev T J Wallis, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Uno Thure Gideon Widerstrom	Winnifred Eva Pannion
BDM Match (92%)	Uno Thure Gideon Widerstrond	Winifred Eva Tannion
	💍 1890/505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	10 days	several years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Napier
Folio	90/367
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev T J Wallis, Wesleyan

6 January 1890

Arthur Shutts
Fanny Algar

Arthur Stubbs
Fanny Algar
💍 1890/506

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
over 21

Napier
Napier

5 years Residence
3 years Bride's father Napier

Residence of Bride's father, Napier

90/368

6 January 1890

Rev T J Wallis, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Shutts	Fanny Algar
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Stubbs	Fanny Algar
	💍 1890/506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	over 21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years Residence	3 years Bride's father Napier
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Napier
Folio	90/368
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev T J Wallis, Wesleyan

6 January 1890

Patrick Garrett
Bridget Mulcahey

Patrick Barrett
Bridget Mulchasey
💍 1890/514

Patrick Coll
Bridget Casey
💍 1890/1969

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

25
24

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

8 months
9 months

Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier

90/375

6 January 1890

Rev Father Grogan, Catholic Priest

No	4
Date of Notice	6 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Garrett	Bridget Mulcahey
BDM Match (91%)	Patrick Barrett	Bridget Mulchasey
	💍 1890/514
BDM Match (61%)	Patrick Coll	Bridget Casey
	💍 1890/1969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	8 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier
Folio	90/375
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Grogan, Catholic Priest

7 January 1890

Alfred Moffatt Smith
Annie Dickson Campbell

Alfred Moffat Smith
Annie Dickson Campbell
💍 1890/502

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager

28
24

Rissington
Poukawa

20 months Residence of Bride's father
20 years Poukawa Hastings

Residence of Bride's father, Poukawa Hastings

90/364

7 January 1890

Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	7 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Moffatt Smith	Annie Dickson Campbell
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Moffat Smith	Annie Dickson Campbell
	💍 1890/502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Rissington	Poukawa
Length of Residence	20 months Residence of Bride's father	20 years Poukawa Hastings
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Poukawa Hastings
Folio	90/364
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian

8 January 1890

Samuel Mortensen
Else Catherine Andersen

Samuel Mortensen
Else Catherine Andersen
💍 1890/515

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

22
17

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

1 year Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier
1 year

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier

90/376

Neils Andersen, Father of Else Catherine Andersen

8 January 1890

S J Jago, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Mortensen	Else Catherine Andersen
	💍 1890/515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	1 year Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier
Folio	90/376
Consent	Neils Andersen, Father of Else Catherine Andersen
Date of Certificate	8 January 1890
Officiating Minister	S J Jago, Registrar

16 January 1890

John Carruth
Hannah Wootton

John Carruth
Hannah Wootton
💍 1890/507

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

26
25

Napier
Napier

15 years Residence of Bride's father Gladstone Road Napier
15 years

Residence of Bride's father, Gladstone Road, Napier

90/369

16 January 1890

Rev D Mac Nicoll, Wesleyan

No	7
Date of Notice	16 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carruth	Hannah Wootton
	💍 1890/507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	15 years Residence of Bride's father Gladstone Road Napier	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Gladstone Road, Napier
Folio	90/369
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev D Mac Nicoll, Wesleyan

18 January 1890

John Thomas Goldspich
Mary Ann Landers

John Thomas Goldfinch
Mary Ann Sanders
💍 1890/795

John Thomas Williams
Mary Anne Leonard
💍 1890/3102

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

30
20

Napier
Napier

20 years Residence of Bride's father Little Beach Napier
6 years

Residence of Bride's father, Little Beach, Napier

90/398

Thomas Landers, Father of Mary Ann Landers

18 January 1890

Rev J S Paterson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	18 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Goldspich	Mary Ann Landers
BDM Match (90%)	John Thomas Goldfinch	Mary Ann Sanders
	💍 1890/795
BDM Match (63%)	John Thomas Williams	Mary Anne Leonard
	💍 1890/3102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years Residence of Bride's father Little Beach Napier	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, Little Beach, Napier
Folio	90/398
Consent	Thomas Landers, Father of Mary Ann Landers
Date of Certificate	18 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev J S Paterson, Presbyterian

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).