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 528

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
157	6 June 1889	Thomas Ashton Garrard Henrietta Grace Spenster	Thomas Ashton Garratt Henrietta McGregor 💍 1889/1440	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	89/1163		6 June 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
158	6 June 1889	Job Charles Haby Elizabeth Annie Bengo	Job Charles Mabey Elizabeth Annie Benge 💍 1889/1207	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Taita Mangaroa Upper Hutt	years years	Episcopalian Church	89/1126		6 June 1889	Rev. Joshua Jones
159	7 June 1889	Richard Edward Rawnsley Ethel Mary Larch	Richard Edward Rawnsley Ethel Mary Duret 💍 1889/1439	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 26	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	St. Marks Church	89/1162		7 June 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
160	10 June 1889	Alfred Beaumont Lucy Crawford	Alfred Beaumont Lucy Crawford 💍 1889/1219	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church, Webb Street	89/1169		10 June 1889	Rev. C. E. Ward
161	17 June 1889	Michael Driscoll Agnes Leask	Michael Miscell Agnes Leaske 💍 1889/1200	Widower Widow	Labourer	50 45	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Andrew's Church	89/1141		17 June 1889	Rev. C. J. Ogg
162	17 June 1889	Michael Driscoll Agnes Leask	Michael Miscell Agnes Leaske 💍 1889/1200	Widower Widow	Labourer	50 45	Wellington Wellington	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	89/1141	Married at the Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt	17 June 1889	Rev. John Lane, L.R.C. Church
163	17 June 1889	Alfred James How Eliza Rose	Alfred James Hose Eliza Rose 💍 1889/1239	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/1197		17 June 1889	W. T. Wyatt
164	19 June 1889	Arthur Hanson Clara Heywood Leading	Arthur Harrod Clara Hywood Ludwig 💍 1889/1203	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street	89/1122		19 June 1889	Rev. John Nixon
165	19 June 1889	John C. Leary Annie O'Brien	John OLeary Annie OBrien 💍 1889/1195	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	89/1119		19 June 1889	Rev. P. Kerrigan
166	20 June 1889	Charles Alexander Westland Louisa Maria Bovey	Charles Alexander Copeland Louisa Maria Bovey 💍 1889/1190	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	27 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Daniells Street	89/1132		20 June 1889	Rev. William Shirer
167	20 June 1889	Alfred Bell Cuncliffe Margaret Harley	Alfred Bell Condliffe Margaret Marley 💍 1889/1197	Widower Spinster	Warder	38 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Lockwood, South Road	89/1138		20 June 1889	Rev. William Lee
168	24 June 1889	William Henry Wilchand Prudence Webber	William Henry McCleland Prudence Webber 💍 1889/1240	Widower Spinster	Hotel Keeper	40 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/1198		24 June 1889	W. T. 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).