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 562

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
33	2 May 1889	Patrick Mullin Julia Kelleher	Patrick Mullin Julia Kelleher 💍 1889/635 Patrick McKeown Mary Kelleher 💍 1889/2654	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	32 29	Wairoa, Napier Meanee	5 years 4 years	St Mary's Chapel, Meanee	89/1263		2 May 1889	Father Jardine, R.C. Priest
34	14 May 1889	Joshua Lequesne Alice Ann Bicknell	Joshua Le Quesne Alice Ann Bicknell 💍 1889/656	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd [illegible]	74 21	Napier Puketapu	24 years 11 years	Residence of [illegible]	89/1260		14 May 1889	Rev. C. L. Tuke, Church of England
35	20 May 1889	John Carlson Emma Rosal	John Carlson Emma Rosval 💍 1889/652	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Domestic	28 21	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	5 years 2 years	Office of the Registrar	89/1256		20 May 1889	Sydney J. Legg, Registrar
36	21 May 1889	James Gray Lavinia Jamieson	James Gray Lavinia Jamieson 💍 1889/639	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Dressmaker	24 21	Napier Napier	10 years Over 4 years	Residence of Rev. I. G. Paterson, Napier	89/1267		21 May 1889	Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
37	27 May 1889	Patrick Molloy Bridget Eliza Molloy	Patrick Molloy Bridget Elizabeth Mollay 💍 1889/1335	Bachelor Spinster	Gaol Warder Domestic	29 25	Napier Napier	2 years 10 days	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	89/1250		27 May 1889	Father Trogan, R.C. Priest
38	29 May 1889	Wm Jas McGrath Mary Williamson	William James McGrath Margaret Williamson 💍 1889/2125	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	23 18	Napier Clive	23 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	89/1833	Robert Williamson, father	29 May 1889	Father Trogan, R.C. Priest
39	30 May 1889	John Wyeth Sarah Marsham	John Wyeth Sarah Wareham 💍 1889/637	Bachelor Widow	Saddler Domestic	30 35	Napier Woodville, Napier	3 years Over 4 years	Residence of Rev. J. Wallis, Napier	89/1265		30 May 1889	Rev. J. Wallis, Wesleyan
40	3 June 1889	John Shamassy Mary Burke	John O'Shannessy Mary Burke 💍 1889/636	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	27 27	Meanee Meanee	9 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Meanee	89/1264		3 June 1889	Father Jardine, R.C. Priest
41	3 June 1889	Thos Chas Oldridge Jane D'Authreau	Thomas Charles Oldridge Jane D'Autheran 💍 1889/640	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	23 24	Le Bon's Bay, Napier Napier	23 years 6 years	Residence of the Bride's father, Napier	89/1268	[illegible] father	3 June 1889	Rev. I. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

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).