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 909

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
191	15 July 1889	S. Clair Goreman Julia Copeland	St Clair Jounnax Julia Copeland 💍 1889/2064	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 24	Lower Hutt do	years do	House of Mr Copeland, Waiwetu	89/2095		15 July 1889	Rev. W. J. Gow
192	17 July 1889	Frederick William Beats Emma Grace Faithfull	Frederick William Beale Emma Grace Faithfull 💍 1889/1994	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	29 32	Wellington Lower Hutt	years do	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	89/2095		17 July 1889	Rev. Joshua Jones
193	17 July 1889	James Milne Helen Gordon Howitt	James Milne Helen Gordon Howett 💍 1889/3530	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	34 26	Wellington do	5 days 3 do	House of the Rev. G. S. Hogg	89/3605		17 July 1889	Rev. G. S. Hogg
194	18 July 1889	James Reid Hamill Bridget Denny	James Reid Hamill Bridget Denny 💍 1889/2002	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 25	Wellington do	years 7 months	St. Mary of the Angels	89/2061		16 July 1889	Rev. P. Kennedy
195	19 July 1889	Edward Frost Mary Ann Dunn	Edward Frost Mary Ann Dunn 💍 1889/1993	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 23	Wellington do	years do		89/2074		19 July 1889
196	20 July 1889	James Brown Mary Every	James Brown Mary Avery 💍 1889/2103 James Brown Mary Matilda Orbell 💍 1889/3108 Walter Brown Mary Jane Gray 💍 1889/3239 James Brown Lucy Grigg 💍 1889/1210	Widower Spinster	Labourer	39 38	Upper Hutt Te Aro	years do	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2124		20 July 1889	Mr. I. Wyall
197	20 July 1889	William Francis Anna Johnson	William Francis Anna Johnson 💍 1889/2104	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 19	Upper Hutt do	years do	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2113	James Johnson, Father	20 July 1889	Mr. I. Wyall
198	22 July 1889	John Goss Elizabeth Inviess	John Goss Elizabeth Juniss 💍 1889/2000	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	24 18	Wellington do	3 days do	St. Marks Church	89/2080	Henry Inviess, Father	22 July 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
199	23 July 1889	John Guillum Scott Miriam Emma Lepper	John Guillam Scott Miriam Emma Tepper 💍 1889/2058	Bachelor Spinster	Banker	33 20	Wellington do	3 days do	St. Marks Church	89/2081	Joseph Lepper, Father	23 July 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
200	23 July 1889	John William Rickman Catherine Bosher	John William Rickman Catherine Bosher 💍 1889/2105	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	34 20	Wellington do	years do	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2114	Thomas Bosher, Father	23 July 1889	Mr. I. Wyall
201	26 July 1889	Charles Thomas Emery Mary Hefferman	Charles Thomas Emeny Mary Hefferman 💍 1889/2066	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	21 20	Wellington do	years do	House of Mrs Hefferman, Ingestre Street	89/2097	Kate Hefferman, Mother	26 July 1889	Rev. W. Powell
202	26 July 1889	Christopher Barthimius Thortgorensen Amelia Sutherland	Christoffer Marthimius Thorbjorensen Amelia Sutherland 💍 1889/2106	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	31 32	Wellington do	years do	Registrar's Office, Wellington	89/2115		26 July 1889	Mr. I. Wyall

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).