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 1325

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1890 Registrar W. T. 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
327	12 December 1890	Alfred Palmer Annie Russell	Alfred Palmer Annie Russell 💍 1890/1627	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Bolton, Ghuznee Street	90/3145		12 December 1890	Revd Wm. Shirer
328	13 December 1890	Christopher Brockelbank Alice May	Christopher Brockelbank Alice May 💍 1890/1316	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 17	Petone Wellington	1 year years	Registrars office Wellington	90/3123	No relative, James May father	27 December 1890	W. T. Wyatt
329	15 December 1890	Edward Vickers Frances Stevens	Edward Vickers Frances Stevens 💍 1890/1304	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	41 30	Wellington Wellington	years 1 week	Registrars office Wellington	90/3212		15 December 1890	W. T. Wyatt
330	15 December 1890	James Turner Henrietta Emily	James Turner Henrietta Cudby 💍 1890/1312	Bachelor Spinster	Musical String Manufacturer	27 26	Lower Hutt Wellington	months years	Registrars office	90/3214		15 December 1890	Revd W. J. Watkin
331	15 December 1890	Thomas Burt Mary Whinney	Thomas Burt Mary McWhinney 💍 1890/3011	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 23	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mrs McQuinney, Lower Hutt	90/3161		15 December 1890	Revd W. J. Watkin
332	16 December 1890	John Crotty Sarah Brady	John Crotty Sarah Brady 💍 1890/3010	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 27	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	St Mary's Cathedral	90/3119		16 December 1890	Very Revd J. Mc Namara
333	17 December 1890	Alexander Johnston Annie Wilson	Alexander Johnston Annie Wilson 💍 1890/1614 William Colvin Annie Wilson 💍 1890/3666	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	27 25	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 months	House of Mr Scoular, Boulcott Street	90/3153		17 December 1890	Revd J. Paterson
334	17 December 1890	Richard Ernest Bowden Ada Helena Thirkell	Richard Ernest Bowden Ada Helena Shirkell 💍 1890/1623	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Thirkell, Kent Terrace	90/3141		17 December 1890	Revd H. B. Redstone
335	18 December 1890	Albas Ernest Annells Amelia Mary Levy	Albert Ernest Hurrell Amelia Mary Levy 💍 1890/3024	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Hutchings, Home Street	90/3181	Kate Sophia Hutchings Guardian	18 December 1890	Revd W. Powell
336	18 December 1890	George Pegden Rebecca Balchin	George Pegden Rebecca Balchin 💍 1890/1311	Widower Widow	Gardener	60 45	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	90/3213		18 December 1890	W. T. Wyatt
337	20 December 1890	William Alexander Geop Clara Rachel Hicks	William Alexander George Skinner Clara Rachel Hecks 💍 1890/1625	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 21	Wellington Wellington	7 days years	House of Mr Hicks, Arthur Street	90/3143		20 December 1890	Revd H. B. Redstone
338	22 December 1890	Joseph Penfound Grossman Edith Howitt Searle	Joseph Penfound Grossman Edith Howitt Searle 💍 1890/3012	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	26 27	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Wesleyan Church	90/3170		22 December 1890	Revd C. H. Laws
339	22 December 1890	Clifford Leese Marion Caroline Darling	Clifford Leese Marion Caroline Darling 💍 1890/2995	Bachelor Spinster	Telephonist	26 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd C. S. Ogg, Wellington Terrace	90/3128	Edwin Darling father	22 December 1890	Revd C. S. Ogg
340	22 December 1890	James Donaldson Martha Elizabeth Beattie	James Donaldson Martha Elizabeth Beatrice Bowater 💍 1890/3013	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Bowater, College Street	90/3171	Mary Ann Bowater mother	22 December 1890	Revd Joseph Berry
341	23 December 1890	William Coltman Margaret Berti	William Colgan Margaret Delaney 💍 1890/2829 William Morgan Margaret Irving 💍 1890/3737 William Walker Margaret Webster 💍 1890/395 William Hunt Margaret Reason 💍 1890/2207 William Beveridge Margaret Bare 💍 1890/2539 William Cronin Margaret Cummings 💍 1890/1471 William Moreton Chappell Margaret Burns 💍 1890/1062 William Love Margaret King 💍 1890/1724 William Paul Thompson Margaret Hearn 💍 1890/1074 William Hebden Margaret Muller 💍 1890/3594 William Rouse Margaret Rooney 💍 1890/2367	Widower Widow	Watchmaker	53 42	Wellington Wellington	months months	House of Mr Cremer, Donalea Street, Lean Street	No marriage solemnized (see memo attached)		23 December 1890	Revd C. S. Ward

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).