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 526

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
104	21 April 1890	Arthur Lilley Elizabeth Lilian Jones	Arthur Lilley Elizabeth Lillian Jones 💍 1890/1180	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Windsor Place	90/1237		21 April 1890	Rev. C. E. Ward
105	22 April 1890	Frederick Baker Bessie Watty	Frederick Baker Bessie Walty 💍 1890/1218	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	19 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/1284	George Baker, father, Anthony Watty, father	22 April 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
106	23 April 1890	Joseph Augustin Chesham Ellen Gegger	Joseph Augustin Chesham Ellen Gigger 💍 1890/1220	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 21	Petone Petone	3 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/1285		23 April 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
107	26 April 1890	Francis Ernest Tomlinson Elizabeth Green Barr	Francis Ernest Tomlinson Elizabeth Candice Barr 💍 1890/1204	Bachelor Spinster	Photography	26 20	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	House of Mr. Barr, Lambton Quay	90/1249	John Barr, father	26 April 1890	Rev. W. Shirer
108	28 April 1890	John McCarthy Bridget Kelleher	John McCarthy Bridget Kelliher 💍 1890/3746	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	90/1884		28 April 1890	Rev. P. Kerrigan
109	28 April 1890	Walter Charles Chick Annie Shepherd	Walter Charles Chuck Annie Shepherd 💍 1890/3677	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	30 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Coffey, Clyde Quay	90/1265		28 April 1890	Rev. W. H. Beck
110	28 April 1890	James Young Weston Dinah Jones	James Young Westwood Dinah Jones 💍 1890/1221	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 28	Wellington Wellington	9 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/1286		28 April 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
111	28 April 1890	Thomas Waters Theresa McLaughlin	Thomas Waters Teresa McLaughlin 💍 1890/1222	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 22	Wellington Wellington	years 4 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/1287		28 April 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
112	28 April 1890	Louis Fox Sarah Jane Charm	Louis Fox Sarah Jane Mann 💍 1890/3833	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Parsonage, Riddiford Street	90/1264		28 April 1890	Rev. W. H. Beck
113	1 May 1890	Joseph John Boden Emily Isabella Costella	Joseph John Boden Blakemore Emily Isabella Costello 💍 1890/1191	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	19 22	Petone Petone	years years	St. David's Presbyterian Church, Petone	90/1240	Louisa Blakeman, mother	1 May 1890	Rev. A. Thomson
114	3 May 1890	William James Harding Martha Biddle	William Finnis Harding Martha Biddle 💍 1890/1176	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	24 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Stemell, Queen Street	90/1233		3 May 1890	Rev. H. B. Redstone
115	5 May 1890	Denis Kelly Ellen Phillips	Denis Kelly Ellen Phillips 💍 1890/3674	Bachelor Spinster	Plate Layer	26 21	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Upper Hutt	90/1251		5 May 1890	Rev. John Lane

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).