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 927

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
181	12 July 1890	Tamaka Aurunai Meteria		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	about 35 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 14 days	Salvation Army Barracks Taranakistreet	90/2200		12 July 1890	Josiah Parsons Saylor
182	14 July 1890	Ralph Shew Mary Elizabeth McKenney	Ralph Thew Mary Elizabeth McKearney 💍 1890/1415	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	25 24	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	House of Mr. Sweeney Adelaide Road	90/2203		14 July 1890	Mr. Edward Lewis
183	14 July 1890	George Edward Read Annie Campbell	George Edward Reid Annie Campbell 💍 1890/2317 George William Thirkell Annie Campbell 💍 1890/418	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Petone Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Campbell Pipitea	90/2198		14 July 1890	Revd. A. Thomson
184	14 July 1890	Emile Catherwood Liding Clara Mary Spreadbury	Emile Cutherwood Ludwig Clara Mary Sprendbury 💍 1890/1400	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Congregational Church Terrace	90/2211		14 July 1890	Revd. W. Powell
185	14 July 1890	Donald MacDonald Lillian Mary Staples	Donald MacDonald Lillian Mary Staples 💍 1890/2348	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 17	Wellington Wellington	year year	St. Johns Presbyterian Church	90/2235	Mary Davie Staples, Mother	14 July 1890	Revd. J. Paterson
186	16 July 1890	Michael Galvin Margaret Farrelly	Michael Galvin Margaret Fanelly 💍 1890/2365	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 29	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt	90/2228		16 July 1890	Revd. John Lane
187	21 July 1890	Walter Wallis Emily Louise Corbett	Walter Wallis Emily Louise Corbett 💍 1890/2353	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	28 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 12 months	St. Peters Church	90/2240		21 July 1890	Revd. W. C. Waters
188	21 July 1890	Richard Keene Emily Susan Williams	Richard Keene Emily Susan Williams 💍 1890/2742	Bachelor Spinster	Florist	28 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church Webb Street Wellington	90/2149		21 July 1890	Revd. E. Ward
189	21 July 1890	George Manley Gore Clara Pinny	George Manley Yerex Clara Pinny 💍 1890/1403	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	33 22	Lower Hutt Wellington	2 months years	House of Mrs. Pinny Ellice Street	90/2214		21 July 1890	Revd. Joseph Berry
190	22 July 1890	Charles Heinold Kate Adams	Charles Heinold Kate Adams 💍 1890/2741	Bachelor Spinster	Pork Butcher	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church Webb Street	90/2148		22 July 1890	Revd. E. Ward
191	23 July 1890	Aaron John Alexander Mary Helen Edwards	Aaron John Alexander Mary Helen Edwards 💍 1890/2394	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Upper Hutt Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	90/2250	Robert Edwards Father	23 July 1890	W. Dwyall
192	24 July 1890	Edward James Harckham Laura Emily Miller	Edward James Harckham Laura Emily Miller 💍 1890/2405	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 22	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	Registrars office Wellington	90/2251		24 July 1890	W. Dwyall

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).