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 525

District of Quarter ending

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
121	25 April 1889	John Allsword Harriet McGuire	John Allswood Harriet McGuire 💍 1889/1192	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Tawa Tawa	3 months 3 months	House of Mrs Home, Tawa	89/1134		25 April 1889	Revd W. J. Watt
122	25 April 1889	Hugh Stewart Pollen Annie Bill	Hugh Stewart Pollen Ann Bill 💍 1889/1450	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	39 34	Khandallah Khandallah	years years	Episcopalian Church, Johnsonville	89/1150		25 April 1889	Ven the Archdeacon Fancourt
123	26 April 1889	James O'Sullivan Jessie Hunter Stewart	James O'Sullivan Jessie Hunter Mowatt 💍 1889/2626	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	32 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's of the Angels	89/1117		26 April 1889	Revd P. Kerrigan
124	29 April 1889	Edward Washington Gibbs Ellen Mary McNamara	Edward Washington Gibbs Ellen Mary McManaway 💍 1889/1446	Bachelor Spinster	Store Manager	39 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	89/1146		29 April 1889	Revd J. McNamara
125	30 April 1889	Kenneth David Webb Becky Chew	Kenneth David Webb Betsy Chew 💍 1889/1188	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	26 32	Petone Crofton	10 months years	House of Mrs Chew, Crofton	89/1130		30 April 1889	Revd W. Oliver
126	30 April 1889	Bartholomew Nolan Margaret Scanlan	Bartholomew Nolan Margaret Scanlan 💍 1889/1447	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	89/1147		30 April 1889	Revd J. McNamara
127	1 May 1889	George Marshall Hewson Mary Harvey	George Marshall Hewson Mary Harvey 💍 1889/1429	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	41 29	Wellington Wellington	6 months 1 week	St. Paul's	89/1153		1 May 1889	Revd John Still
128	6 May 1889	Charles George Bleasel Sarah Ann Mountain	Charles George Bleasel Sarah Ann Mountain 💍 1889/1448	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	30 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	St. Mary's Cathedral	89/1148		6 May 1889	Revd J. McNamara
129	6 May 1889	Joseph William Howell Eliza Georgina Cook	Joseph William Downes Eliza Georgina Cook 💍 1889/1436	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser Cook	22 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	89/1160	Susan Eliza Cook, Mother	6 May 1889	Revd R. Coffey
130	7 May 1889	James Timmons Catherine Louisa Green	James Simmons Catherine Louisa Gray 💍 1889/1218	Widower Widow	Farmer	39 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 14 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/1166		7 May 1889	W. S. Wyatt
131	7 May 1889	Simon Athy James Mary Clean	Simon Athy Junior Mary Olsen 💍 1889/1220	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 21	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/1187		8 May 1889	W. S. Wyatt
132	9 May 1889	Edward Milligan Kathleen Agatha Ann Majoribanks	Edward Milligan Kathleen Agatha Armstrong 💍 1889/1228	Widower Widow	Sailor	31 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd J. K. Elliott, Majoribanks Street	89/1173		9 May 1889	Revd J. K. Elliott

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).