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 1288

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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
1	7 November 1889	Frederick Ernest Cooper Mary Elizabeth Chicago	Frederick Ernest Cooper Mary Elizabeth McIntyre 💍 1889/2835	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. W. H. Cooper, Brougham Street	89/2891		7 November 1889	Rev. J. K. Elliott
2	7 November 1889	Robert Furthers Catherine Pryde	Robert Struthers Catherine Pryde 💍 1889/3588	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Taylor, Vivian Street	89/2917		7 November 1889	Rev. J. Paterson
3	7 November 1889	Frederick William Ions Elizabeth Watts	Frederick William Moon Elizabeth Watts 💍 1889/2815	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	25 21	Wellington Feilding	years years	House of Mr. Watts, Feilding	89/2870		7 November 1889	Rev. H. M. Murray
4	7 November 1889	William Campbell Mary Chigwin	William Campbell Mary Chegwin 💍 1889/2884	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Newton	89/2942		7 November 1889	Rev. Joseph Berry
5	9 November 1889	William Stibbon Sarah Elizabeth Burnley	William Ibbetson Sarah Elizabeth Burnley 💍 1889/2865	Bachelor Spinster	Factory Hand	33 40	Petone Petone	1 month years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	89/2899		9 November 1889	Rev. Joshua Jones
6	12 November 1889	Thomas William Manley Margaret Anastasia Mann	Thomas William Manley Margaret Anastatia Brown 💍 1889/3526	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	33 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	89/3601		12 November 1889	Rev. P. Kerrigan
7	12 November 1889	George Robert Davis Bessie Williams	George Robert Davis Bessie Williams 💍 1889/3589	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	41 22	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	Registrars Office, Wellington	89/2964		12 November 1889	Mr. W. I. Wyatt
8	12 November 1889	Henry Alfred Wright Emma Florence Elizabeth Burnett	Henry Alfred Wright Emma Florence Elizabeth Barnett 💍 1889/2915	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	25 29	Karori Wellington	1 week years	House of Mr. F. Dye, Brougham Street	89/2952		12 November 1889	Rev. John Muir
9	12 November 1889	George Horace Hart Gertrude Lucy Orbell	George Horace Hawk Gertrude Lucy Orbell 💍 1889/2916	Bachelor Spinster	Bookkeeper	28 26	Wellington Johnsonville	years years	St. Johns Church, Johnsonville	89/2953		12 November 1889	Ven. Archdeacon Fancourt
10	13 November 1889	George Henry Thomas Annie Kirk	George Henry Thomas Annie Kirk 💍 1889/2905	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Registrars Office, Charlotte Street	89/2965	Charlotte Mother	13 November 1889	Mr. W. I. Wyatt
11	13 November 1889	Arthur Douglas Webster Ellen Eliza Barton	Arthur Douglas Webster Ellen Eliza Barton 💍 1889/2892	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 22	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	89/2926		13 November 1889	Rev. John Still
12	14 November 1889	Joseph Wallace Alice Townsend	Joseph Wallace Alice Mary Townsend 💍 1889/3528	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	89/3603		14 November 1889	Rev. P. Kerrigan

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).