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 929

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
205	7 August 1890	Adam Wilson Annie Elliott	Adam Wilson Annie Elliott 💍 1890/2416	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	45 50	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office Wellington	90/2256		7 August 1890	W. I. Wyatt
206	8 August 1890	Charles Robert Cavendish Mary Adeline Baldwin	Charles Robert Caverhill Mary Adeline Baldwin 💍 1890/2360	Bachelor Spinster	Station manager	29 24	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 month	St. Pauls Cathedral	90/2246		8 August 1890	Revd. E. I. Howell
207	8 August 1890	Joseph Stephen Rutter Ellen Ruth Bell	Joseph Stephen Ruther Ruth Ellen Bell 💍 1890/2351	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder	27 17	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Marks Church	90/2238	Father	8 August 1890	Revd. R. Coffey
208	14 August 1890	George Douglas Owen Emily Alice Blake	George Douglas McEwan Emily Alice Blake 💍 1890/1399	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	23 18	Petone Petone	4 months years	House of Mr. Powell	90/2199	William Blake, Father	14 August 1890	Revd. J. A. Thomson
209	15 August 1890	Daniel Johnston Laura Johnson	Daniel Johnston Laura Johnson 💍 1890/2795	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	46 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	St. Andrews Church	90/2182		15 August 1890	Revd. C. I. Egg
210	15 August 1890	George Arthur Walker Charlotte Walker	George Arthur Wallis Charlotte Walker 💍 1890/1418	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Walker, Majoribanks Street	90/2206		15 August 1890	Mr. Edward Lewis
211	16 August 1890	John Fowler Ellen Tenn	John Fowler Ellen Venn 💍 1890/2418	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	58 56	Paikakariki Paikakariki	years	Registrars office Wellington	90/2258		16 August 1890	W. I. Wyatt
212	18 August 1890	Edward Charles Corner Mary Elizabeth Taylor	Edward Charles Corner Mary Elizabeth Taylor 💍 1890/2357	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 19	Petone Petone	years	Episcopalian Church Petone	90/2226	Thomas Taylor, Father	18 August 1890	Revd. Joshua Jones
213	18 August 1890	John Monlagen Frances Mary Deacon	John Montague Frances Mary Dixon 💍 1890/1404	Bachelor Spinster	Assistant	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Mr. Deacon, Ingestre Street	90/2215		18 August 1890	Revd. C. H. Laws
214	19 August 1890	George Gordon Mumford Marcus Goldstein Rosa Helen Levy	George Gordon Mumfred Marcus Goldstein Rose Hellen Levy 💍 1890/2368	Bachelor Spinster	Clothier	27 22	Wellington Terrace	15 months years	Hebrew Synagogue	90/2231		19 August 1890	Revd. Herman Van Staveren
215	19 August 1890	Alfred Merwyn Guy Smith Lily Manson		Bachelor Widow	Butcher	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office Wellington	90/2259		19 August 1890	W. I. Wyatt
216	20 August 1890	Alfred Coles Mary Collins	Alfred Coles Mary Collins 💍 1890/1414	Bachelor Spinster	Oyster Dealer	26 28	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary of the Angels	90/2202		20 August 1890	Revd. P. Kerrigan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).