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 526

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1889

No	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
133	15 May 1889	Allan Gibson Louise Holles	Allan Gibson Louise Hollis 💍 1889/1221	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 25	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrar's office, Wellington	89/1188		15 May 1889	W. J. Wyatt
134	15 May 1889	Peter Joseph Jane Hurley	Peter Joseph Jane Thorley 💍 1889/1196	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	28 32	Wellington Karori	years	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	89/1137		15 May 1889	Rev. C. H. Laws
135	20 May 1889	Richard Shamrach Coleman Penelope Young	Rehin Shadrach Coleman Penelope Young 💍 1889/1430	Widower Spinster	Builder	38 25	Wellington Wellington	years 4 months	St. Paul's Cathedral	89/1154		20 May 1889	Rev. John Stice
136	21 May 1889	John Borthwick Harriet Louisa Stringer	John Borthwick Harriet Louisa Stringer 💍 1889/1427	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 24	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	House of Mr. Mitchell, Alma Road	89/1142		20 May 1889	Rev. John Moir
137	20 May 1889	Daniel Fitzgerald Mary Power	Daniel Fitzgerrald Mary Power 💍 1889/1184	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	46 29	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks years	St. Mary of the Angels	89/1118		20 May 1889	Rev. P. Kerrigan
138	20 May 1889	John Henry Greenwood Edith Prebble	John Henry Greenwood Edith Prebble 💍 1889/1186	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Wilmott, Riddiford Street	89/1128		20 May 1889	Rev. Joseph Berry
139	21 May 1889	Edward William Barnes Annie Maria Bolton	Edward William Berrill Annie Maria Bolton 💍 1889/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Guard	26 17	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mr. Bolton, Lower Hutt	89/1135	Martha Bolton, mother	21 May 1889	Rev. W. J. Watkin
140	21 May 1889	Dalton William Gambrill Laura Ellen Unsworth	Dalton William Gambrill Louisa Ellen Unsworth 💍 1889/1222	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years 3 weeks	Registrar's office, Wellington	89/1189	John Barnes, Father	21 May 1889	W. J. Wyatt
141	21 May 1889	Patrick South Martha O'Donnell	Patrick South Martha O'Donnell 💍 1889/1223	Widower Widow	Shoemaker	47 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	89/1190		21 May 1889	W. J. Wyatt
142	23 May 1889	John McNatty Rachel McNatty	John McHattie Rachel Mabey 💍 1889/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	24 19	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	89/1140	Robert McNatty, Father	23 May 1889	W. E. Wyatt
143	25 May 1889	George Edward Hook Roanna Coringa Brown	George Edward Hook Rosanna Evangeline Brown 💍 1889/1204	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 19	Tawa Flat Long Point	years years	Episcopalian Church, Pahautanui	89/1123	Mary Ann Brown, Mother	25 May 1889	Rev. J. M. Devenish
144	25 May 1889	Jonas Bottemley Mary Jane Lilleywall	Jonas Bottomley Mary June Lillywall 💍 1889/1224	Bachelor Spinster	Fineman	30 27	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrar's office, Wellington	89/1191		25 May 1889	W. J. Wyatt

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).