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 931

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
232	15 September 1890	Frederick John Healey Andrina Mouat	Fredrick John Healey Andrina Mowat 💍 1890/2796	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	32 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Mouat, Oriental Bay	90/2783		15 September 1890	Rev. C. S. Ogg
233	16 September 1890	Thomas Henry Sumner Minnie Eliza Schuler	Thomas Henry Turner Minnie Eliza Schuler 💍 1890/1420	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Dock Street	90/2209		16 September 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
234	16 September 1890	George Stafford Isabella Dixon	George Stafford Isabella Dixon 💍 1890/1419	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	30 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr. Thomas Dixon, Oriental Bay	90/2208		16 September 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
235	17 September 1890	Denis Mulhane Clara Catley	Denis Mulhane Clara Catley 💍 1890/2401	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Makara Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/2265		17 September 1890	W. T. Wyatt
236	18 September 1890	John Sinclair Johnson Margaret Reid	John Sinclair Johnson Margaret Reid 💍 1890/2402	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/2266		18 September 1890	W. T. Wyatt
237	20 September 1890	Jens Johnson Elizabeth Gollins	Jens Johnsen Elizabeth Tollens 💍 1890/2403	Widower Widow	Labourer	46 54	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/2267		20 September 1890	W. T. Wyatt
238	22 September 1890	Doten Courtenay Cole Elizabeth Amelia Fowler		Bachelor Spinster	Painter	24 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 weeks	Church		not solemnized (see memo attached)	22 September 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
239	22 September 1890	George Thomas Harris Mabel Margaret Smith	George Thomas Harris Mabel Margaret Smith 💍 1890/1408	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. J. Smith, Tory Street	90/2219		22 September 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
240	22 September 1890	Bartolemo Russo Italia Pierotti	Bartolomeo Russo Halia Pierotti 💍 1890/3055	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	23 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/3190	Cesare Pierotti, father	22 September 1890	W. T. Wyatt
241	23 September 1890	Clement George Bulling Hester Hall Bulling	Clement George Culling Hester Hall Culling 💍 1890/2355	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	34 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Mary's Cathedral	90/2242		23 September 1890	Rev. M. Keegan
242	24 September 1890	John Thomas Hawthan Adaline Rowell	John Thomas Hawthorn Adaline Rowell 💍 1890/3394	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Hawthan, Hanson Street	90/2210		24 September 1890	Rev. W. H. Beck
243	25 September 1890	Andrew Craig Clara Priscilla Jones	Andrew Craig Clara Priscilla Jones 💍 1890/2988	Widower Spinster	Labourer	45 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Regent Street	90/3120		25 September 1890	Rev. C. E. Ward
244	25 September 1890	Alfred William Bell Gertrude Eliza Robinson	Alfred Dillon Bell Gertrude Eliza Robinson 💍 1890/2996	Bachelor Spinster	Runholder	37 22	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	St. Paul's Cathedral	90/3129		25 September 1890	Rev. E. J. Howells
245	25 September 1890	Clarence William Irving Margaret Duff	Clarence William Irving Margaret Duff 💍 1890/2404	Bachelor Widow	Fireman	36 34	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/2268		25 September 1890	W. T. Wyatt
246	26 September 1890	George Edwin Johnson Constance Emily Ballard	George Edwin Johnson Constance Emily Ballard 💍 1890/1409	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	90/2220		26 September 1890	Rev. C. H. Laws

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).