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 140

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
61	4 March 1890	Thomas O'Neill Ellen Jane Teep	Thomas O'Neill Ellen Jane Toop 💍 1890/417	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Simpson, Nairn Street	90/290		4 March 1890	Rev. W. Lee
62	5 March 1890	Benjamin George Davis Maggie Rodgers	Benjamin George Davis Maggie Rodgers 💍 1890/215	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 20	Petone Petone	years years	Brooks Presbyterian Church, Petone	90/243	Euphemia Rodgers, mother	5 March 1890	Rev. A. Thomson
63	5 March 1890	Robert Francis Richardson Ellen Maria Isaac	Robert Francis Richardson Ellen Maria Isaac 💍 1890/344	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	30 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Isaac, Aro Street	90/255	William Isaac, father	5 March 1890	Rev. N. B. Reastone
64	5 March 1890	Peter James Hervey Elaine Mary Webb	Peter James Herbey Elaine Mary Webb 💍 1890/794	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	37 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Andrews Church	90/897		5 March 1890	Rev. C. C. Ogg
65	6 March 1890	Edward Cameron Smith Frances Mary Fairchild	Edward Canavan Smith Frances Mary Fairchild 💍 1890/419	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	90/292		6 March 1890	Rev. W. C. Waters
66	11 March 1890	Charles Edward Carter Zoe Martin	Charles Edward Carter Zoe Martin 💍 1890/331	Bachelor Spinster	Sign Writer	27 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr Martin, Manners Street	90/266	Robert Martin, father	11 March 1890	Rev. J. K. Elliott
67	11 March 1890	Robert Hall Coltman Lucy Ann Amadio	Robert Hall Coltman Lucy Ann Amadio 💍 1890/411	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Amadio, Pirie Street	90/284	Frances Caroline Amadio, mother	11 March 1890	Mr Edward Lewis
68	12 March 1890	Timothy Glavin Kate Griffin	Timothy Glavin Kate Griffin 💍 1890/325	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary of the Angels	90/260		12 March 1890	Rev. P. Kerrigan
69	12 March 1890	Francis Kitto Esther Roe	Francis Kitto Esther Roe 💍 1890/432	Widower Spinster	Sailor	36 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Ghuznee Street	90/282		12 March 1890	Mr Edward Lewis
70	13 March 1890	Samuel Johnson Davenport Alice Cross	Samuel Johnson Davenport Alice Cross 💍 1890/343	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	House of Mr Cross, Arthur Street	90/254		13 March 1890	Rev. H. B. Reastone
71	15 March 1890	Albin Charles Ashbridge Charlotte Sarah Sayler		Widower Spinster	Fireman	28 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Pauls Cathedral	90/252		15 March 1890	Rev. John Still
72	18 March 1890	George Smith Ellen Stevens	George Smith Ellen Stevens 💍 1890/3826	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	52 36	Kilbirnie Kilbirnie	3 days years	Registrars Office, Wellington	90/316		18 March 1890	W. Dwygatt

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).