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 530

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
152	16 June 1890	Joseph Reeves Beatrice Mary Dust	Joseph Reeves Beatrice Mary Dust 💍 1890/1177	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	27 23	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks 4 years	House of Mr. W. Shinnell, Queen Street	90/1234	16 June 1890	Rev. H. B. Redstone
153	17 June 1890	Arthur Albert Earlton Kate Elizabeth Lamb	Arthur Albert Carlton Kate Elizabeth Lamb 💍 1890/1233	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	27 21	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 months	Registrars office, Wellington	90/1299	17 June 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
154	17 June 1890	Walter George Morris Olive Lament Masters	Walter George Morris Olive Samuel Masters 💍 1890/1174	Widower Spinster	Clerk	40 30	Wellington Wellington	5 months 5 months	St. Mark's Church	90/1231	17 June 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
155	18 June 1890	Hubert John Addenbrooke Annie Mary Wyllie	Hubert John Addenbrooke Annie Mary Wylie 💍 1890/1193	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 27	Wellington Wellington	4 days 3 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/1255	18 June 1890	Rev. E. I. Howell
156	19 June 1890	John Zuppicich Catherine Doyle	John Zuppicich Catherine Doyle 💍 1890/1234	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 23	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrars office, Wellington	90/1300	19 June 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
157	21 June 1890	James Davidson Emily Nisbeth Harris	James Davidson Emily Eliza Harris 💍 1890/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	22 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mark's Church	90/1232	21 June 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
158	21 June 1890	Henry Stebbings Burgess Wilhelmina Hood	Henry Stebbings Burgess Wilhelmina Stood 💍 1890/1235	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 23	Wellington Wellington	6 months 2 months	Registrars office, Wellington	90/1301	21 June 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
159	23 June 1890	Alfred Craig Ferguson Clara Hooper	Alfred Craig Ferguson Clara Hooper 💍 1890/1187	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Fitter	28 26	Wellington Wellington	1 year 4 years	St. Andrews Church	90/1224	23 June 1890	Rev. C. I. Ogg
160	23 June 1890	John Wilson Sarah Jane Noble	John Wilson Sarah Jane Nobbs 💍 1890/1188 John Wilson Maria Bourke 💍 1890/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Andrews Manse, Wellington	90/1225	23 June 1890	Rev. C. I. Ogg
161	24 June 1890	James Cave Annie Huan	James Cave Annie Ewing 💍 1890/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	29 28	Wellington Wellington	5 months 2 months	Eden Terrace	90/2457	24 June 1890	Rev. P. Kerrigan
162	25 June 1890	James Watson Clara De Lacour	James Watson Clara De Lacoure 💍 1890/1401 James Watson Sarah Wilson 💍 1890/1427	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Watson, Tasman Street	90/2212	25 June 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
163	25 June 1890	Charles William Wood Emma Eliza Smith	Charles William Wood Emma Eliza Smith 💍 1890/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Smith, Elizabeth Street	90/1236	25 June 1890	Rev. H. B. Redstone

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).