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 525

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
92	11 April 1890	Charles Vaughan Kreeft Annie Henrietta Lawson	Charles Vaughan Kregt Annie Henrietta Lawson 💍 1890/1189	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	90/1226		11 April 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
93	14 April 1890	William Alexander Pye Elizabeth Kerr	William Alexander Pye Elizabeth Kerr 💍 1890/1214	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	40 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Montgomery, Belfast Street	90/1280		14 April 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
94	15 April 1890	James Wishart Magdalena Kate Morley	James Wishart Magdalene Kate Morley 💍 1890/1185	Bachelor Widow	Clerk	35 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	The Chancel, Woolcombe Street	90/1222		15 April 1890	Rev. J. Paterson
95	16 April 1890	Richard Gooder Letitia Enright	Richard Gooder Letitia Enright 💍 1890/1213	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of The Rev. J. K. Elliott, Oriental Bay	90/1279		16 April 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
96	16 April 1890	John Walter Hope May Row Parkinson	John Walter Hope May Rose Parkinson 💍 1890/1883	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	31 21	Lower Hutt Christchurch	3 months 2 days	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch	90/1568		16 April 1890	Rev. Gordon Webster
97	16 April 1890	William Hoye Constance Eleanor Forbes	William Moye Constance Eleanor Forbes 💍 1890/1229	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 23	Wellington Wellington	6 months years	House of Mrs. Forbes, Bidwill Street	90/1273		16 April 1890	Rev. Joseph Berry
98	16 April 1890	Edward Sill Elizabeth Wood	Edward Till Elizabeth Wood 💍 1890/3692	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	33 34	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years 6 months	The Chancel, Woolcombe Street	90/1221		16 April 1890	Rev. J. Paterson
99	16 April 1890	Arthur William Evans Jane Elizabeth Baker	Arthur William Stevens Jane Elizabeth Baker 💍 1890/1190	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	34 28	Killinis Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	90/1227		16 April 1890	Rev. R. Coffey
100	17 April 1890	Herbert James De Kringer Martha Bold		Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 16	Petone Lower Hutt	years years	House of Mrs. Guilliam, Waiweto	90/1258	mother	17 April 1890	Rev. W. J. Watkin
101	17 April 1890	Benjamin Edwin Gower Jemima Honeyman Rodgers	Benjamin Edwin Oxner Jemima Honeyman Rodgers 💍 1890/1199	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	61 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Riccarton Street	90/1263	Married also at Registrar's Office	17 April 1890	Rev. W. M. Beck
102	18 April 1890	Thomas Murphy Sophia Mouldy	Thomas Murphy Sophia Mouldy 💍 1890/3671	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 22	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	St. Mary's Cathedral	90/1245		18 April 1890	Very Rev. J. McNamara
103	21 April 1890	Donald McDonald Isabella Teer	Donald McDonald Isabella Teer 💍 1890/1198	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	28 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days 2 months	House of Mr. Smith, Adelaide Road	90/1262		21 April 1890	Rev. W. Oliver

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).