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 913

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
239	10 September 1889	William Henry Willson Rachel Butler	William Henry Wilton Rachel Butler 💍 1889/2143	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrars office Wellington	89/2132	No relation in Colony	24 September 1889	Mr. T. Wyatt
240	10 September 1889	David William Parkham Eliza Emma Heague	David William Bartram Eliza Emma Hodges 💍 1889/2097	Widower Widow	Builder	56 38	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 10 days	Registrars office Wellington	89/2128		10 September 1889	Mr. T. Wyatt
241	11 September 1889	George Chipchick Mary Isabel De Rosa	George Chittick Mary Isabel de Rosa 💍 1889/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 28	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years	St. James Church Lower Hutt	89/2077		11 September 1889	Revd. Joshua Jones
242	13 September 1889	Hermann Hoffmann Augusta Brandes Luceman	Hermann Hoffmann Augusta Maud Meenan 💍 1889/1986	Bachelor Spinster	Musician	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	89/2067		13 September 1889	Revd. P. Kennedy
243	14 September 1889	John Stamp Hobbs Elizabeth Tremaine	John Stamp Hobbs Elizabeth Tremaine 💍 1889/3625	Bachelor Widow	Carter	31 28	Wellington Wellington	1 month 4 years	House of Mr. J. Hobbs Adelaide Road	89/2099		14 September 1889	Mr. Edward Lewis
244	17 September 1889	Robert Packer Jessie Dickie	Robert Packer Jessie Dickie 💍 1889/2078	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	33 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Marks Church	89/2085		17 September 1889	Revd. R. Coffey
245	18 September 1889	Edward Braven Osborn Maud Good	Edward Brenan Osborn Maud Good 💍 1889/2065	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Wesleyan Church Lower Hutt	89/2096	Ellen Good, mother	18 September 1889	Revd. W. J. Watkin
246	18 September 1889	Johannes Julius Delachau Catherine Marguerite Franziska Neumann		Bachelor Widow	Engineer	35 35	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars office Wellington	89/2129		18 September 1889	Mr. T. Wyatt
247	20 September 1889	William Terry Augusta Harris	William Terry Augusta Harris 💍 1889/2099 William Berry Emma Harris 💍 1889/1564	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	1 year	Registrars office Wellington	89/2130	Samuel Harris, Father	20 September 1889	Mr. T. Wyatt
248	20 September 1889	Thomas Cormer Clara Alice Smith	Thomas Lorimer Clara Alice Smith 💍 1889/2886	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	34 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	Wesley Church Taranaki Street	89/2944		20 September 1889	Revd. Wm. Lee
249	23 September 1889	Edwin Greatbatch Annie Evelyn Thomson	Edwin Greatbatch Annie Cicely Thomsen 💍 1889/2079	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	31 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	St. Marks Church	89/2086		23 September 1889	Revd. R. Coffey
250	23 September 1889	William Edward Goodwin Henrietta Kelly	William Edward Goodwin Henrietta Kelly 💍 1889/2132	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars office Wellington	89/2131		23 September 1889	Mr. T. Wyatt

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).