Intentions to Marry, 1889

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840401, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 043

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1889 Registrar J. Owen Lord

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

19 January 1889

William Sutcliffe
Annie Howard

William Sutcliffe
Annie Howard
💍 1889/103

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

23
21

Auckland
Ponsonby

23 years
21 years

Registrars Office

89/107

15 January 1889

J. Owen Lord Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	19 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sutcliffe	Annie Howard
	💍 1889/103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	89/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1889
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Registrar

20 January 1889

John Peter Oakes
Lydia Snow Kay

John Peter Oakes
Lydia Snow Kay
💍 1889/66

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

23
22

Ponsonby
Auckland

15 years
7 years

Church of St Sepulchre

89/42

16 January 1889

Rev. B. T. Dudley Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	20 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Peter Oakes	Lydia Snow Kay
	💍 1889/66
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Sepulchre
Folio	89/42
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. T. Dudley Church of England

21 January 1889

James Wishart
Ellen Ashe

James Wishart
Ellen Ashe
💍 1889/3468

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

38
28

Auckland
Swanson

53 years
4 months

Dwelling of J. S. Little

89/3525

19 January 1889

Rev. E. C. Cross Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	21 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wishart	Ellen Ashe
	💍 1889/3468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Swanson
Length of Residence	53 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of J. S. Little
Folio	89/3525
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. C. Cross Church of England

22 January 1889

Richard Wilkinson
Minnie Ruth Costello

Richard Wilkinson
Minnie Ruth Costello
💍 1889/73

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

23
21

Pitt Street
Ponsonby

23 years
3 years

St John's Church

89/50

19 January 1889

Rev. C. H. Garland Wesleyan

No	19
Date of Notice	22 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Wilkinson	Minnie Ruth Costello
	💍 1889/73
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Pitt Street	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church
Folio	89/50
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Garland Wesleyan

23 January 1889

William Sharples
Mary Jane Somerville

William Wharfe
Mary Jane Somerville
💍 1889/104

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
28

Albertland
Te Aroha

24 years
2 years

Registrars Office

89/108

22 January 1889

J. Owen Lord Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	23 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sharples	Mary Jane Somerville
BDM Match (88%)	William Wharfe	Mary Jane Somerville
	💍 1889/104
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Albertland	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	89/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1889
Officiating Minister	J. Owen Lord Registrar

24 January 1889

Alfred William Symonds
Bridget Agatha Brennan

Alfred John Pyman
Bridget Agatha Brennen
💍 1889/614

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman

26
24

Newton Road
Ponsonby

6 years
6 years

Church of St Benedict

89/91

24 January 1889

Rev. J. C. Downey R. Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	24 January 1889
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Symonds	Bridget Agatha Brennan
BDM Match (73%)	Alfred John Pyman	Bridget Agatha Brennen
	💍 1889/614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Newton Road	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Benedict
Folio	89/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1889
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Downey R. Catholic

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).