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 076

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1890 Registrar J. Horns

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

25 January 1890

William Morrison
Grace Hancock

William Morrison
Grace Hancock
💍 1890/3224

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

23
22

Thames
Thames

20 years
10 years

The Dwelling of Mrs Hancock Moanataiari Green

90/165

25 January 1890

Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morrison	Grace Hancock
	💍 1890/3224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mrs Hancock Moanataiari Green
Folio	90/165
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

27 January 1890

Levi Moore
Mary Reitman

Levi Moore
Mary Reitman
💍 1890/3223

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist
None

33
23

Thames
Thames

6 years
20 years

The Dwelling of Mr Reitman Baillie St Thames

90/164

27 January 1890

Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	27 January 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Levi Moore	Mary Reitman
	💍 1890/3223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist	None
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr Reitman Baillie St Thames
Folio	90/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

1 February 1890

Robert Alexander Law
Elizabeth Murdock

Robert Alexander Law
Elizabeth Murdoch
💍 1890/3213

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

22
21

Thames
Thames

20 years
20 years

The Dwelling of Mr Robert Wilson Mary St Thames

90/166

1 February 1890

Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	1 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Law	Elizabeth Murdock
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Alexander Law	Elizabeth Murdoch
	💍 1890/3213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Mr Robert Wilson Mary St Thames
Folio	90/166
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.J. Neill, Presbyterian

28 February 1890

John Henry Heenan
Frances Robinson

John Henry Heenan
Frances Robinson
💍 1890/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

21
19

Tararu
Tararu

10 months
19 years

St Georges Church Mackay St Thames

90/161

Thomas William Robinson, Father

28 February 1890

Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	28 February 1890
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Heenan	Frances Robinson
	💍 1890/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Tararu
Length of Residence	10 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church Mackay St Thames
Folio	90/161
Consent	Thomas William Robinson, Father
Date of Certificate	28 February 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

23 December 1889

William Foster Brown
Arema Mary Sills

William Foster Brown
Arima Mary Sills
💍 1890/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

29
20

Parawai
Parawai

18 years
4 months

St Georges Church Mackay St Thames

90/160

Simeon Sills, Father

23 January 1890

Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	23 December 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Foster Brown	Arema Mary Sills
BDM Match (97%)	William Foster Brown	Arima Mary Sills
	💍 1890/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Parawai	Parawai
Length of Residence	18 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St Georges Church Mackay St Thames
Folio	90/160
Consent	Simeon Sills, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1890
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan D.D., 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).