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 1322

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar Thomas Wyatt

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
282	4 November 1890	Charles Oakley Clarke Mary Cox	Charles Oakley Clarke Mary Cox 💍 1890/3040	Bachelor Spinster	Decorator	28 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars office Wellington	90/3199		4 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
283	4 November 1890	James David Lambess Mary Webster	James David Lambess Mary Webster 💍 1890/3039	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 2 months	Registrars office Wellington	90/3198		4 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
284	5 November 1890	James McLeavey Mary Murphy	James McLeavey Mary Murphy 💍 1890/2998 James Forde Mary Murphy 💍 1890/765	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	St. Mary's Cathedral	90/3116		5 November 1890	Very Rev. J. McNamara
285	5 November 1890	Charles Edward Dempsey Alice Jane Falkner	Charles Edward Dempsy Alice Jane Falkner 💍 1890/3000	Bachelor Spinster	Bookkeeper	28 32	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 day	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/3132		5 November 1890	Rev. John Still
286	5 November 1890	John Arnott Arnold Eliza Mary Drake	John Arnsby Arnold Eliza Mary Duke 💍 1890/3403	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	54 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd. C. T. Ogg, Wellington Terrace	90/3126		5 November 1890	Revd. C. T. Ogg
287	6 November 1890	Alexander Black Mary Hill	Alexander Black Mary Hill 💍 1890/3041 Henry Waller Mary Hill 💍 1890/3551	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	37 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	90/3200		6 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
288	7 November 1890	William Absalom Huff Maria Leanto	William Absalom Duff Maria Clark 💍 1890/3042	Bachelor Widow	Wheelwright	28 34	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	90/3201		7 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
289	7 November 1890	James John Fleet Mary Jane Morris	James John Fleet Mary Jane Morris 💍 1890/3021	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Lower Hutt Petone	years years	St. James Church Lower Hutt	90/3179		7 November 1890	Revd. Joshua Jones
290	8 November 1890	James Alexander Robertson Margaret Wainwright	James Alexander Robertson Margaret Wainwright 💍 1890/3043	Widower Spinster	Storeman	40 30	Wellington Wellington	3 months 6 months	Registrars office Wellington	90/3202		8 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
291	8 November 1890	Edmond John Watson Selina Oliver	Edmond John Matson Selina Oliver 💍 1890/3044	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 27	Wellington Wellington	6 months 10 months	Registrars office Wellington	90/3203		8 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
292	9 November 1890	Allan Cockburn Catherine May Houlihan	Allan Cockburn Catherine May Houlihan 💍 1890/3045	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	29 22	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	90/3204		9 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
293	12 November 1890	George Grant Willis Emma Theresa Reilly	George Grant Wills Emma Teresa Reilly 💍 1890/2991	Widower Spinster	Clerk	34 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	90/3123		12 November 1890	Revd. John Doherty
294	13 November 1890	Thomas Henry Baker Mary Jane Hodgetts	Thomas Henry Baker Mary Jane Hodgetts 💍 1890/3048	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	Upper Hutt Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	90/3205	Joseph Hodgetts, Father	13 November 1890	Mr. T. Wyatt
295	13 November 1890	James Horsfall Meadowcroft Lily Hopewood	James Horsfall Meadowcroft Lily Hopwood 💍 1890/1626	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hopwood	90/3144		13 November 1890	Revd. Wm. Shirer
296	15 November 1890	Henry Clark Jane Ward	Henry Monk Jane Ward 💍 1890/3047	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 31	Lower Hutt Wellington	years 7 months	Registrars office Wellington	90/3206		15 November 1890	Mr. T. 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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).