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 1269

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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
38	7 October 1889	Augustus Townsend Buckett Annie Parker	Augustus Townsend Annie Parker 💍 1889/2819	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	23 22	Wanganui Wanganui	23 yrs 2 yrs	In the residence of the Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wanganui	89/2855		7 October 1889	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
39	4 October 1889	Charles Patchett Lizzie Kyndman	Charles Patchett Eliza Margarett Hyndman 💍 1889/2805	Bachelor Spinster	Officer Sal. Army Spinster	23 23	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days 4 days	In the Oddfellows Hall, Wanganui	89/2860	Joseph Parsons Taylor, Commonly called Colonel Taylor, Salvation Army	14 October 1889	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
40	4 October 1889	Thankshare Smile Agnes Brown	William Shakespeare Poole Agnes Brown 💍 1889/2816	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	28 22	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs 22 yrs	In the residence of Mr. W. S. Poole, Hill Street, Wanganui	89/2852		14 October 1889	John Ross, Presbyterian
41	5 October 1889	Ernest Carr Christina Elizabeth Bertram	Ernest Carr Christina Elizabeth Jessie Bertram 💍 1889/3543	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 26	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 2 mos	In the residence of Mr. N. Sutherland, Craigielea, Wanganui	89/3594		29 October 1889	John Ross, Presbyterian
42	4 November 1889	Herbert Townsend Susan Peacock	Herbert Townsend Susan Peacock 💍 1889/2820	Widower Spinster	Plumber	28 23	Wanganui Wanganui	28 yrs 3 yrs	In the residence of Mr. Joseph Townsend, Harrison St., Wanganui	89/2858		4 November 1889	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
43	7 November 1889	William Rodwell Louisa Pawson	William Rodwell Louisa Pawson 💍 1889/2821	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 30	Wanganui Wanganui	12 yrs 30 yrs	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui	89/2857		20 November 1889	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
44	8 November 1889	George Hicks Annie Martha Snow	George Hicks Annie Margretha Dorothea Snow 💍 1889/2822	Widower Widow	Baker	38 23	Wanganui Wanganui	15 yrs 18 mos	In the residence of the Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wanganui	89/2859		29 November 1889	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
45	9 December 1889	William Stoop Emily Doran	William Hogg Emily Doran 💍 1889/2818	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	25 25	Wanganui Wanganui	14 mos 5 yrs	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	89/2854		9 December 1889	G. W. Wood, Registrar
46	11 December 1889	John Mead Rusew Sarah Ann McGrail	John Frederick Ruscoe Sarah Ann McGrail 💍 1889/3544	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 26	Fordell Long Acre Valley	5 yrs 15 yrs	In the Church of England, Waitarawa	89/3595		11 December 1889	P. L. Cameron, Church of England
47	11 December 1889	Charles Edward Billinghurst Margaret Jane Shipley	Charles Edward Billinghurst Margaret Jane Stapley 💍 1889/3545	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 26	Maxwelltown Brunswick	10 yrs 5 yrs	In the residence of Mr. Montgomery, Brunswick Line	89/3596		11 December 1889	P. L. Cameron, Church of England
48	14 December 1889	Walter Hodesh Corney Amy Ellen Corney	Walter Hodren Amy Ellen Corney 💍 1889/2804	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Maker	25 21	Wanganui Wanganui	15 yrs 10 yrs	In Mr. Jeremiah Corney's residence, St. George's Gate, Wanganui	89/3597		14 December 1889	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan

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).