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 911

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
215	6 August 1889	William Henry When Caroline Galden	William Henry McPhun Caroline Nalder 💍 1889/1991	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Galden, Arthur Street	89/2072	Emma Galden, Mother	6 August 1889	Rev. C. E. Ward
216	7 August 1889	William Forman Janet Mackay Whiteford	William Toomath Janet MacKay Whiteford 💍 1889/1987	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	St. Paul's Cathedral	89/2068	Archibald Whiteford, Father	7 August 1889	Rev. John Still
217	7 August 1889	Ernest Macarthy Grace Role	Ernest Macartny Grace Role 💍 1889/2085	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2117		7 August 1889	W. T. Wyall
218	10 August 1889	Christian Olsen Annie Searle	Christian Olsen Annie Clark Searle 💍 1889/2089	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 24	Wellington Ohariu	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2121		10 August 1889	W. T. Wyall
219	12 August 1889	John Arthur Barraclough Sarah Ann Sharratt	John Arthur Banadough Sarah Ann Sharratt 💍 1889/2087	Widower Spinster	Engineer	46 32	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2119		12 August 1889	W. T. Wyall
220	12 August 1889	Thomas Cabot Catherine Amelia Jessop	Thomas Cabot Catherine Amelia Jessop 💍 1889/2086	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2118		12 August 1889	W. T. Wyall
221	12 August 1889	Ralph William Green Charlotte Elizabeth Petherick	Ralph Milburn Green Charlotte Elizabeth Petherick 💍 1889/2088	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	27 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2120	Heather Petherick, Mother	12 August 1889	W. T. Wyall
222	13 August 1889	William Alfred Jordian Lillia Martha Little	William Alfred Fordham Lilian Martha Little 💍 1889/1995	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Clerk	24 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. James Church	89/2076		13 August 1889	Rev. Joshua Jones
223	13 August 1889	George Little Lina Plimmer	George Little Lina Plimmer 💍 1889/2061	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr W. Plimmer, Richargh Terrace	89/2092	William Plimmer, Father	13 August 1889	Rev. C. E. Penney
224	14 August 1889	Walter William Bacon Emma Ruth Smith	Walter William Baun Emma Ruth Smith 💍 1889/2076	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Mark's Church	89/2083		14 August 1889	Rev. R. Coffey
225	19 August 1889	Leonard Pannant Jessop Emma Arnold	Leonard Parrant Junr Emma Arnold 💍 1889/1999	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Chandler	21 19	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr Bishop, Petone	89/2079	Ann Bishop, Mother	19 August 1889	Rev. A. Junn
226	19 August 1889	Lars Christian Rasmussen Laura Short	Lars Christian Rasmussen Laura Short 💍 1889/1992	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Short, Brooklyn	89/2073	Mary Ann Short, Aunt & Guardian	19 August 1889	Rev. E. W. Ward

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).