Intentions to Marry, 1890

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840402, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 23 2025

Page 139

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1890

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
49	24 February 1890	William Ivor James Sarah Watson	William Ivor James Sarah Watson 💍 1890/431	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Briston, Drummond Street	90/281		24 February 1890	Mr. Edward Lewis
50	24 February 1890	Thomas Howgate Newsom Annie Caroline Goodier	Thomas Howgate Newsome Annie Caroline Goodier 💍 1890/416	Bachelor Spinster	Ironworker	22 14	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 3 days	House of Rev. W. Lee, Taranaki Street	90/289	John Goodier, Father	24 February 1890	Rev. W. Lee
51	25 February 1890	Edwin Rushton Olivia Annie Flint	Edwin Rushton Selina Annie Flint 💍 1890/330	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 22	Petone Petone	years 3 days	House of Mr. Rushton, Petone	90/265		25 February 1890	Rev. W. J. Watkin
52	25 February 1890	Edward Russell Shawcross Annie Alethea Smith	Edward Russell Shawcross Annie Alethea Smith 💍 1890/3591	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	52 42	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 day	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/314		25 February 1890	W. T. Wyatt
53	25 February 1890	George Petty Fanny Thacker	George Petty Fanny Shuker 💍 1890/3651	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/315		25 February 1890	W. T. Wyatt
54	26 February 1890	George William Thinkell Annie Campbell	George William Thirkell Annie Campbell 💍 1890/418 George Edward Reid Annie Campbell 💍 1890/2317	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	21 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	90/291		26 February 1890	Rev. C. H. Laws
55	26 February 1890	John Coman Lucy Ann Pickin	John Coman Lucy Anne Pickin 💍 1890/336	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	29 21	Ngahauranga Ngahauranga	years years	House of Mr. Staples, Lower Hutt	90/270		26 February 1890	Rev. Joshua Jones
56	26 February 1890	George Ebenezer Young Martha Ann Stevenson	George Ebenezer Young Martha Anne Stevensen 💍 1890/338	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	39 20	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	House of Mrs. Stevenson, South Road	90/272	Mary Ann Stevenson, Mother	26 February 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
57	28 February 1890	Samuel Mono Minnie Rowntree Little	Samuel Moore Minnie Rountree Little 💍 1890/340	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	37 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Little, Palmer Street	90/274		28 February 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
58	28 February 1890	Joseph Parker Sarah Ann Thatcher	Joseph Parker Sarah Ann Thatcher 💍 1890/337	Bachelor Spinster	Weaver	25 22	Petone Upper Hutt	years 14 days	House of Mr. Kemp, Upper Hutt	90/271		28 February 1890	Rev. A. Thomson
59	1 March 1890	Edward Reeves Junr. Lily Eva Henderson	Edward Reeves Lily Eva Henderson 💍 1890/339	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Newtown	90/273		1 March 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
60	3 March 1890	Robert Nimmo Emma Andrews Watson	Robert Nimmo Emma Andrews Walden 💍 1890/333	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	24 18	Wellington Wellington	3 days 5 weeks	House of Mr. Nimmo, Constable Street	90/268	Richard Watson, Father	3 March 1890	Rev. William Shirer

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).