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 908

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
179	1 July 1889	Thomas Charlesworth Helen Amanda Randell	Thomas Charles Morris Helen Maude Randell 💍 1889/2083	Bachelor Spinster	Sign Writer	20 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	89/2107	Thomas Charlesworth father Sarah Randell mother	1 July 1889	W. T. Wyatt
180	2 July 1889	Charles Thomas Mary Ann	Charles Thomas Mary Jane Terrill 💍 1890/692 James Thomas Mary Ann Collie 💍 1889/2229	Bachelor Spinster	Salvation Army Officer	23 24	Wellington Wellington	14 days 3 days	House of Mr Robinson Karori	89/2102		2 July 1889	G. P. Taylor
181	3 July 1889	Donald McDonald Annie Atkins	Donald MacDonald Annie Atkins 💍 1889/2094	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	26 34	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	89/2108		3 July 1889	W. T. Wyatt
182	4 July 1889	Joseph Haylock Sarah Nelson	Joseph Haylock Sarah Nelson 💍 1889/2001	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Nelson College Street	89/2060		4 July 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
183	4 July 1889	Charles Bath Annie McLean	Charles Bath Annie McGuire 💍 1889/2067	Widower Spinster	Wood Carver	38 24	Wellington Wellington	years 7 months	St Marys Church	89/2095		4 July 1889	Rev. J. McNamara
184	4 July 1889	Thomas Judd Elizabeth Godfrey	Thomas Judd Elizabeth Godfrey 💍 1889/1998	Widower Spinster	Meat Freezer	32 28	Petone Wellington	15 months 3 days	House of Mr Campbell Petone	89/2078		4 July 1889	Rev. A. Thompson
185	6 July 1889	Tom Hill Mary Josephine Lynch	Tom Hill Mary Josephine Lynch 💍 1889/1989	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	40 25	Wellington Wellington	3 months 1 month	House of Mr Crawford Courtenay Place	89/2070		6 July 1889	Rev. W. H. West
186	9 July 1889	Ernest Pettit Gosling Elizabeth Mary Brown	Ernest Pettet Josling Elizabeth Mary Browne 💍 1889/2081	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr J. Rapley Garrett Street	89/2088		9 July 1889	Rev. William Lee
187	12 July 1889	George Hill Harriet Wilhelmina Mary Jeffries	George Hill Harriett Wilhelmina May Jeffries 💍 1889/1990	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	21 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Ireland Bonecott Street	89/2071	Mary Jeffries mother	12 July 1889	Rev. C. Edward
188	15 July 1889	John Ryan Annie Bourke	John Ryan Annie Bourke 💍 1889/2073	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Tukapio Tawa Flat	years years	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt	89/2104		15 July 1889	Rev. John Lane
189	15 July 1889	Harry Owen Jones Jane Nicoll	Harry Owen Jones Jane Nicoll 💍 1889/2102	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	28 28	Karori Karori	9 months 4 months	Registrars office Wellington	89/2111		15 July 1889	W. T. Wyatt
190	15 July 1889	Heywood George Vickers Alice Baddeley Dyer	Heywood George Vickers Alice Baddeley Dyer 💍 1889/2082	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 23	Khandallah Karori	year year	St Marys Church Karori	89/2089		15 July 1889	Rev. A. Dasent

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).