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 1324

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar William 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
312	1 December 1890	Edward Llewellyn Jones Lydia Nicholls	Edward Llewellyn Jones Lydia Nicholls 💍 1890/1622	Widower Spinster	Clerk	31 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/3138		1 December 1890	Revd. John Still
313	1 December 1890	Charles Hansen Isabella Fowkes	Charles Hansen Isabella Fowkes 💍 1890/3009	Bachelor Widow	Cabinet maker	35 30	Wellington Wellington	years 10 months	St. Marys Cathedral	90/3118		1 December 1890	Very Revd. J. McNamara
314	2 December 1890	John Webb Martha Jane Therese Johnston Carroll	John Webb Martha Jane Theresa Johnston Carroll 💍 1890/2989	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Clark, Ghuznee St.	90/3121		2 December 1890	Revd. G. S. Swann
315	2 December 1890	Alfred James Huck Aileen Jane Hollis	Alfred James Huett Aileen Jane Hollis 💍 1890/3003	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker	30 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/3135		2 December 1890	Revd. John Still
316	3 December 1890	Alexander Neely Sarah Ann Ashlin	Alexander Neely Sarah Ann Astill 💍 1890/3014	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	28 21	Ngahamanga Wellington	years years	House of Mr. G. Ashlin, Sydney St.	90/3172		3 December 1890	Revd. C. H. Laws
317	3 December 1890	Frederick Seagar Edith Churchill	Frederick Seagar Edith Churchill 💍 1890/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church	90/3175		3 December 1890	Revd. W. G. Waters
318	5 December 1890	Alexander Barry Emma Sarah Pearse	Alexander Barry Emma Sarah Pearse 💍 1890/2994	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 26	Wellington Wellington	years 1 week	St. Andrews Church	90/3127		5 December 1890	Revd. G. S. Ogg
319	8 December 1890	Jesse Ebenezer Snelling Clara Christina Henderson	Jesse Ebenezer Snelling Clara Christina Henderson 💍 1890/1618	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/3137		8 December 1890	Revd. John Still
320	8 December 1890	Willie George Ellen Simpson	Willie George Ellen Simpson 💍 1890/3052	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	42 33	Petone Wellington	6 months years	Registrars office, Wellington	90/3210		8 December 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
321	9 December 1890	William John Veal Elizabeth McKissock	William John Veal Elizabeth McKissock 💍 1890/3407	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 22	Wellington Wellington	1 month 3 days	House of Mr. Wally, English St.	90/3183		9 December 1890	Revd. W. N. Beck
322	9 December 1890	Joseph Gould Adcock Edith Marian Robathan	Joseph Mould Adcock Edith Marian Robathan 💍 1890/1620	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk in Holy orders	26 26	Wellington Wellington	4 days 2 days	St. Marks Church	90/3158		9 December 1890	Revd. R. Coffey
323	9 December 1890	Asher Asher Gertrude Jackson	Asher Asher Gertrude Jackson 💍 1891/3066	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	35 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Hebrew Synagogue, Wellington Terrace	90/326	Isaac Jackson, father	9 December 1890	Revd. Hyman Van Stavereu
324	11 December 1890	Charles Arthur Blackbee Annie Watern	Charles Arthur Blackbee Annie Watson 💍 1890/1293	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	22 20	Wellington Wellington	months months	Registrars office, Wellington	90/3211	George Henry Watern, father	10 December 1890	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
325	10 December 1890	William John Hurston Harriet Southwell Pilcher	William John Hueston Harriet Southwell Pilcher 💍 1890/1621	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	24 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	90/3160		10 December 1890	Revd. R. Coffey
326	11 December 1890	Stanley Gilbert Hamerton Minnie Denton Lawson	Stanly Gilbert Hamerton Minnie Denton Lawson 💍 1890/3406	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	90/3159	Robert Chevenhas Hamerton, father	11 December 1890	Revd. R. Coffey

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).