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 1285

District of Wellington 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
259	2 October 1889	John Telford Sarah Canningham	John Telford Sarah Cunningham 💍 1889/2898	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	56 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office	89/2957		2 October 1889	W. T. Wyatt
260	3 October 1889	Edwin Joseph Holmes Jessie Thutter	Edwin Joseph Holmes Jessie Dutton 💍 1889/2917	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	30 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Dutton, Tinakori Road	89/2954		3 October 1889	Rev. C. Penney
261	3 October 1889	George Kay Julia Matilda Baithy	George Kay Stella Matilda Bailly 💍 1889/2899	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 26	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	14 days 14 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2958		3 October 1889	W. T. Wyatt
262	4 October 1889	Gilbert Ross Hewish Mary Whinnie	Gilbert Ross Hewitt Mary McWhinnie 💍 1889/2855	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr J. P. Hewish, Lipman Street	89/2912		4 October 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
263	7 October 1889	Edward Rhaines Courtenay Lucy Jane Bowen	Edward Rhaimes Courtenay Bowen Lucy Jane Seed 💍 1889/2873	Bachelor Spinster	Lancing Surveyor	46 23	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	St Peters Church, Dunedin	89/2932 Wellington		7 October 1889	Rev. W. C. Waters
264	12 October 1889	William Alfred Curphey Ellen McEdward	William Alfred Carpenter Ellen McElwain 💍 1889/2900 William Alfred Pargiter Ellen Ramsay 💍 1890/601	Bachelor Spinster	Lithographic Printer	23 19	Wellington Wellington	year year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2959	Cornelius McEdward, Father	12 October 1889	W. T. Wyatt
265	14 October 1889	James William Howes Alice Emma Harrison	James William Horton Martin Alice Maud Louisa Harrison 💍 1889/2876	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	89/2935		14 October 1889	Rev. W. C. Waters
266	14 October 1889	Edward Ahmn Marion Susan Studd	Edward Atmore Marion Paton Steele 💍 1889/2856	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs G. Studd	89/2913		14 October 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
267	15 October 1889	George Augustus Fenwick Edith Louisa Robinson	George Aufrere Fenwick Edith Louisa Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1889/2889	Bachelor Spinster	Stock Broker	41 24	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	St Pauls Cathedral, Dunedin	89/2928 Wellington		15 October 1889	Rev. W. Edward Lush
268	15 October 1889	Frank Jacobs Frances Jane Dent	Frank Jacobs Frances Jane Dent Prince 💍 1889/2882	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	23 21	Wellington Wellington	7 months 1 week	St Pauls Cathedral	89/2922	Prince	15 October 1889	Rev. W. Edward Lush
269	16 October 1889	William Charles Cole Julia Ann Gimblett	William Charles Cole Julia Ann Gimblett 💍 1889/2901	Divorcee Spinster	Cook	31 21	Wellington Wellington	years 10 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2960		16 October 1889	W. T. Wyatt
270	19 October 1889	William Arthur Edlin Martha Rachel Shepherd	William Arthur Edlin Martha Rachel Shepherd 💍 1889/2902	Bachelor Spinster	Saddlesmith	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2961	Harriet Anne Franklin, Mother	19 October 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).