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 928

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
193	24 July 1890	James Tremaine Matilda Jane Short	James Tremaine Matilda Jane Short 💍 1890/2719	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 23	Wellington Brooklyn	years years	House of Mr. Reason, Brooklyn	90/2150	John Short, Father	24 July 1890	Rev. C. E. Ward
194	26 July 1890	William John Bush Bessie Bernken Vang Smith		Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 17	Petone Petone	years years	Episcopalian Church, Petone	90/2224	Johannes Bernken Vang, Father	26 July 1890	Rev. Joshua Jones
195	28 July 1890	William Henry Benbow Elizabeth Spence Mowat	William Henry Benbow Elizabeth Spence Mowat 💍 1890/2794	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. W. G. Mowat, Aurora Terrace	90/2781		28 July 1890	Rev. C. T. Ogg
196	29 July 1890	Andreas Hans Thompson Annie Bowater	Andreas Hans Thompson Annie Bowater 💍 1890/2350	Bachelor Spinster	Soapmaker	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Manse, Woolcombe Street	90/2237		29 July 1890	Rev. J. Paterson
197	29 July 1890	Robert William Sinclair Julia Bould	Robert William Sinclair Julia Bould 💍 1890/2349	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	24 20	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	House of Mr. Bould, College Street	90/2236	Thomas Bould, Father	29 July 1890	Rev. J. Paterson
198	30 July 1890	Thomas Henry Hogg Emily Tolhurst	Thomas Henry Hogg Emily Tolhurst 💍 1890/1416	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Dixon Street	90/2204		30 July 1890	Mr. Edward Leins
199	31 July 1890	David Smith Helen Mary Louisa Harbert	David Smith Helen Mary Louisa Harbert 💍 1890/2412	Bachelor Spinster	Pipe Maker	30 24	Wellington Wellington	6 months years	Registrars office, Wellington	90/2252		31 July 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
200	2 August 1890	George Perrett Constance Laura Lynckey Tolley	George Perrett Constance Laura-Zynckie Tolley 💍 1890/2413	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 16	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	90/2253	Edward Tolley, father	2 August 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
201	6 August 1890	Thomas Peter Martin Annie Riddal Oliver	Thomas Peter Martin Annie Riddal Oliver 💍 1890/2415	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	22 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrars office, Wellington	90/2255		6 August 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
202	6 August 1890	John Blackford Mary Waller	John Blackford Mary Valler 💍 1890/2417	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Tarva Flat Tarva Flat	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	90/2257	William Benson, Guardian	6 August 1890	Mr. T. W. Wyatt
203	6 August 1890	Robert Alexander Frost Ellen Walford	Robert Alexander Frost Ellen Walford 💍 1890/2346	Bachelor Spinster	Harness Maker	22 22	Petone Petone	8 months 3 weeks	House of Rev. J. Jones, Lower Hutt	90/2225		6 August 1890	Rev. Joshua Jones
204	7 August 1890	Walter George Billows Alice Richards	Walter George Billows Alice Richards 💍 1890/2414	Bachelor Spinster	Druggist Assistant	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office, Wellington	90/2254		7 August 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).