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 559

District of Hastings 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
143	10 April 1889	Matthew Alderman Philomena Jessop	Matthew Alderman Philomene Jessop 💍 1889/1326	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	32 19	Hastings Hastings	14 years 2 years	Salvation Army Barracks Hastings	89/1242	10 April 1889	Rev. C. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
144	6 May 1889	James Eccles Rose Beedy	James Eccles Rose Beechy 💍 1889/1330	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	30 21	Tomoana Hastings	7 years 1 week	Registrar's Office Hastings	89/1246	6 May 1889	William G. McLeod, Registrar
145	13 May 1889	John Crawford Ellen Pettharp	John Crawford Ellen Palethorpe 💍 1889/1327 John Crawford Frances Charlotte Featherstone 💍 1889/1214	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	29 21	Hastings Hastings	4 years 3 1/2 years	Residence of G. Smith-Hastings	89/1243	13 May 1889	Rev. C. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
146	15 May 1889	James Maple Mary Mathews	James Kyle Mary Mathews 💍 1889/1345	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	28 24	Clifton Omahu	5 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	89/1237	18 May 1889	Rev. Father Smyth, Roman Catholic Minister
147	15 May 1889	Michael Sullivan Maggie Mc. Cartie	Michael Sullivan Maggie McCarthy 💍 1889/1322	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer Domestic	29 24	Hastings Hastings	2 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	89/1238	18 May 1889	Rev. Father Smyth, Roman Catholic Church
148	23 May 1889	George Portas Mary Mahoney	George Porlas Mary Mahoney 💍 1889/1323 John Cooper Mary Mahoney 💍 1889/346	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic	31 28	Hastings Hastings	9 years 9 months	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	89/1239	23 May 1889	Revd. Father Smyth, Roman Catholic Minister
149	4 June 1889	Robert Thompson Emma Sarah Collison	Robert Thompson Proctor Emma Sarah Collison 💍 1889/1329	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	34 24	Hastings Hastings	9 years 3 years	St. Matthews Church Hastings	89/1245	4 June 1889	Revd. Id or H. Hill, Episcopalian Minister
150	8 June 1889	John Carroll Margaret Theresa Hepa	John Carroll Margaret Theresa Flynn 💍 1889/1324	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	29 28	Tomoana Tomoana	7 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	89/1240	8 June 1889	Revd. Father Smyth, Roman Catholic Minister
151	21 June 1889	Cornelius O'Neill Bridget Twoomey	Cornelius ONeill Bridgett Twomey 💍 1889/1325	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	32 22	Tomoana Hastings	7 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	89/1241	21 June 1889	Revd. Father Smyth, Roman Catholic Minister
152	22 June 1889	Arthur Frederick Dillon Sarah Hannah Holl	Arthur Frederick Dillon Sarah Hannah Holt 💍 1889/1328	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	21 19	Hastings Hastings	7 years 18 months	Salvation Army Barracks Hastings	89/1244	22 June 1889	Rev. C. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).