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 528

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
128	16 May 1890	William Lanning June Larkin	William Laming Jane Larkin 💍 1890/3747	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	34 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	90/1885		16 May 1890	Rev. P. Kerrigan
129	17 May 1890	Wiremu Tamatoa Hana Te Awhike		Widower Widow	Settler	60 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki St.	90/1274		17 May 1890	Rev. W. Kirk
130	19 May 1890	Alfred Ernest Foussier Isabella Agnes de Linde	Alfred Ernest Cousins Isabella Agnes McIlvride 💍 1890/1186	Bachelor Spinster	Engraver	36 23	Wellington Wainuiomata	years years	House of Mr de Linde, Wainuiomata	90/1223		19 May 1890	Rev. G. Paterson
131	21 May 1890	John Percell Elizabeth Caroline nee Phun	John Percell Elizabeth Caroline McPhun 💍 1890/1182	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Wood, Epuni Street	90/1238		21 May 1890	Rev. C. E. Ward
132	27 May 1890	John Geango Christina McAllister	John Geange Christina McAllister 💍 1890/1225	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Upper Hutt Wellington	years years	House of Mrs McAllister, Drummond Street	90/1269	Anne McAllister, Guardian	27 May 1890	Mr. Edward Lewis
133	28 May 1890	John Augustus Mason Catherine Gudmundsen	John Augustus Mason Cathrine Gudmundsen 💍 1890/1251	Widower Spinster	Storekeeper	58 32	Lower Hutt Wellington	years months	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1293		28 May 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
134	30 May 1890	James Stevenson Rosanna Beatty	James Stephenson Rosanna Beatty 💍 1890/3672	Bachelor Widow	Master	34 44	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	90/1246		30 May 1890	Very Rev. J. McNamara
135	31 May 1890	Henry Ernest Dryden Mary Louisa Dryden	Henry Ernest Dryden Mary Louisa Dryden 💍 1890/1209	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	24 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Dryden, Taranaki Street	90/1275		31 May 1890	Rev. C. H. Laws
136	31 May 1890	David Wadsworth Elizabeth Brocklehurst	David Wadsworth Elizabeth Brocklehurst 💍 1890/1197	Bachelor Spinster	Factory hand	23 23	Petone Petone	years years	Episcopalian Church, Petone	90/1260		31 May 1890	Rev. Joshua Jones
137	2 June 1890	Robert Walls Catherine Josephine DeLacy	Robert Wallis Catherine Josephine De Lorce 💍 1890/1254	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 24	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1296		2 June 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
138	3 June 1890	Wellesley Wellman Elizabeth McDonald	Willesley Welman Elizabeth McDonald 💍 1890/1252	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	41 24	Wellington Wellington	5 months 2 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1294		3 June 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
139	4 June 1890	Charles Ward Mary Hepburn	Charles Ward Mary Hepburn 💍 1890/1253	Widower Widow	Mariner	40 39	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1295		4 June 1890	Mr. T. W. 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).