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 1286

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1889

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
19 October 1889	Cyril William James Ann Kebbele	Cyril William Tanner Ann Kebbell 💍 1889/2890	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	28 28	Wellington Wellington	18 months years	St. Pauls Cathedral	89/2924		19 October 1889	Rev. W. E. Lush
19 October 1889	William Francis Loader Ruth Ellercham	William Francis Ludlow Ruth Eldershaw 💍 1889/2894	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Wellington Wellington	7 days years	House of James Reid, Upper Hutt	89/2928		19 October 1889	Rev. W. Kirk
21 October 1889	Edward Wilkie Maker Emily Ada Hyde	Edward Wilkie Watson Emily Ada Hyde 💍 1889/2903	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	89/2962		21 October 1889	M. J. Wyatt
21 October 1889	George Ernest Richardson Mary Ann Trevor	George Ernest Richardson Mary Ann Trevor 💍 1889/2918	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Abel Smith Street	89/2955		21 October 1889	Rev. C. Penney
24 October 1889	Russell James Goodman Selina Willmot Young	Russell James Goodman Selina Willmot Young 💍 1889/2875	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	44 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	89/2934		24 October 1889	Rev. W. C. Waters
24 October 1889	Joseph Hawke Catherine Kelington	Joseph Hawke Catherine Kilvington 💍 1889/2883	Bachelor Widow	Compositor	28 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. J. F. Hicks, College Terrace	89/2941		24 October 1889	Rev. Joseph Berry
24 October 1889	William Hopkirk Mary Daniel	William Hopkirk Mary Daniel 💍 1889/2859	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	32 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Daniel, Vogel Street	89/2915		24 October 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
28 October 1889	Augustus Henry Bewyn Emily Louise Ashton Adcock	Augustus Henry Oswyn Emily Louise Ashton Adcock 💍 1889/2857	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Arthur Street	89/2914		28 October 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
28 October 1889	Percy Arthur Herman Rebecca Noeller	Percy Arthur Herman Rebecca Moeller 💍 1889/3627	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Jewish Synagogue	89/2930		28 October 1889	Rev. H. Van Staveren
28 October 1889	Hugh McKenzie Louisa Cuff	Hugh McKenzie Louisa Cuff 💍 1889/2831	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	89/2887		28 October 1889	Very Rev. J. McNamara
29 October 1889	William George Cross Clara Edith Backhouse	William George Cross Clara Edith Backhouse 💍 1889/2887	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	19 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of The Rev. W. Lee, Taranaki Street	89/2945	Joseph Cross, Father; Sarah Backhouse, Mother	29 October 1889	Rev. W. Lee
30 October 1889	John Sharp Ivy Ann Hyde Walmsley	John Sharp Joy Ann Hyde Walmsley 💍 1889/2891	Widower Spinster	Esquire	61 35	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 month	St. Pauls Cathedral	89/2925		30 October 1889	Rev. John Still

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).