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 527

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
116	5 May 1890	Thomas Henry Windley Amelia May Taylor	Thomas Henry Windley Amelia May Taylor 💍 1890/2707	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 26	Porirua Tawa Flat	years years	House of Mr. James Taylor, Tawa Flat	90/2818		5 May 1890	Rev. F. Dumbell
117	5 May 1890	Robert Thackeray Hudson Mary Louisa Kalt	Robert Thackeray Hudson Mary Louisa Kalb 💍 1890/1171	Bachelor Widow	A Dentist	47 34	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 weeks	St. Marks Church	90/1228		5 May 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
118	7 May 1890	Nicholas Gillson March Alice Jessie Marten	Nicholas Gillson March Alice Jessie Marten 💍 1890/1223	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	41 27	Wellington Wellington	4 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1288		7 May 1890	W. I. Wyatt
119	8 May 1890	Ernest Kenneth Muirhead Janie Nicholas	Ernest Kenneth Muirhead Janie Nicholas 💍 1890/1231	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 21	Wellington Wellington	8 days 6 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1289		8 May 1890	W. I. Wyatt
120	8 May 1890	George Mayo Kebbell Emily Wheeler	George Mayo Kebbell Emily Wheeler 💍 1890/1172	Widower Spinster	Settler	48 40	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	90/1229		8 May 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
121	10 May 1890	John Fyfe Amy Elizabeth Smith	John Fyfe Amy Elizabeth Smith 💍 1890/1215	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	30 19	Turakina Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	90/1281	William Smith, Father	10 May 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
122	12 May 1890	Henry Arnold Jessie Wallace Hamilton	Henry Arnold Jessie Wallace Hamilton 💍 1890/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	21 21	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mrs. Hamilton, Petone	90/1242		12 May 1890	Rev. A. Thomson
123	12 May 1890	Charles Woodham Lucinda Nelson	Charles Woodham Lucinda Nelson 💍 1890/1200	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	33 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week 4 days	House of Mr. R. Brown, Petone	90/1241		12 May 1890	Rev. A. Thomson
124	14 May 1890	Carl Lauritz Nicolei Petersen Annie Hester Levy	Carl Laurits Nicolei Petersen Annie Hester Levy 💍 1890/1242	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1290	Henry Levy, Father	14 May 1890	W. I. Wyatt
125	14 May 1890	Daniel James Greeks Emily Stirling	Daniel James Greeks Emily Stirling 💍 1890/3678	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 29	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs. Stirling, Grant Road	90/1266		14 May 1890	Rev. W. H. Beck
126	15 May 1890	Matthew Farley Elizabeth Ann Gordon	Matthew Farley Elizabeth Ann Gordon Grindrod 💍 1890/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days 10 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1291	Elizabeth Ann Gordon, Grandmother	15 May 1890	W. I. Wyatt
127	16 May 1890	Robert Salter Well Jane Brealey	Robert Salter Webb June Brealey 💍 1890/1250	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Wellington Wellington	10 months 12 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/1292		16 May 1890	W. I. Wyatt

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).