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 134

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
37	6 February 1889	Alfred Jackson Rachel Keith Stuart	Alfred Jackson Rachel Keith Stuart 💍 1889/185	Bachelor Widow	Gentleman	62 52	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	St. Peters Church	89/256		6 February 1889	Rev. H. E. Tuckey
38	8 February 1889	Peter Cheyne Elizabeth Flann	Peter Cheyne Elizabeth Flaws 💍 1889/228	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 23	Wellington Karori	years years	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	89/283		8 February 1889	Rev. J. Wallis
39	9 February 1889	William Edward Low Emma Dixon	William Edward Jones Emma Dixon 💍 1889/186	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Clerk	26 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	89/257		9 February 1889	Rev. H. E. Tuckey
40	11 February 1889	John Ofsopke Frances Spora	John Ofsofsko Frances Spira 💍 1889/306	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 17	Wellington Wellington	14 days 14 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/314	Martin Ofsopke, Father; John Spora, Father	11 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt
41	12 February 1889	George Albert Shannon Mary Johnstone	George Albert Sharman Mary Johnstone 💍 1889/237	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	48 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 2 days	St. Marks Church	89/269		12 February 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
42	12 February 1889	Nicholas Atkinson Ellen Scarancke	Nicholas Akenson Ellen Scarancke 💍 1889/307	Widower Spinster	Carter	35 21	Wellington Upper Hutt	3 days from London years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/315		12 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt
43	12 February 1889	Thomas Earl Robert Storm Cain	Thomas Earl Roberts Honorah Cain 💍 1889/224	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Jackson, Tory Street	89/280		12 February 1889	Rev. Charles Penney
44	13 February 1889	John Cunningham Annie Kennedy	John Cunningham Annie Kennedy 💍 1889/308	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years 1 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/316		13 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt
45	14 February 1889	Alfred Scholes Annie Sophia	Alfred Scholes Annie Sophia Symons 💍 1889/216	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 22	Lower Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Presbyterian Church, Upper Hutt	89/271		14 February 1889	Rev. J. McDonald
46	15 February 1889	William Henry Workman Annie Jane Ruddell	William Henry Wackrow Annie Jane Ruddell 💍 1889/289	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 23	Ohariu Ohariu	years 3 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/320	Care Workman, Father	15 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt
47	16 February 1889	Joseph William Smith Emily Payne	Joseph William Bull Emily Payne 💍 1889/309	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years 2 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/317		16 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt
48	16 February 1889	Charles Langley Isabella Caroline Stanford	Charles Langley Isabella Caroline Hamford Brewer 💍 1889/311	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	35 25	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/319		16 February 1889	W. J. Wyatt

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).