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 138

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
37	14 February 1890	William McKinstry Harriet Elizabeth Chandler	William McKinstry Harriet Elizabeth Chandler 💍 1890/424	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger	30 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	90/296		14 February 1890	Rev. W. C. Waters
38	17 February 1890	William Dunn Mitchell Maria Jeffrey	William Dunn Mitchell Maria Jeffrey 💍 1890/232	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	23 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/309		17 February 1890	W. I. Wyatt
39	17 February 1890	Thomas Whitehead Eliza Starlow	Thomas Whiteside Eliza Harlow 💍 1890/3590	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	25 26	Wellington Wellington	6 months 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/310		17 February 1890	W. I. Wyatt
40	18 February 1890	Philippo Marganoni Susan Connolly	Phillipe Maronjoni Susan Connolly 💍 1890/219	Bachelor Widow	Fisherman	50 40	Wellington Wellington	years 18 months	St Mary's Chapel, Thorndon	90/247		18 February 1890	Very Rev. Father Naman
41	19 February 1890	William Alfred Longhurst Margaret Eliza Shorter	William Alfred Longhurst Margaret Eliza Shotter 💍 1890/335	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	20 24	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 months	St Paul's Cathedral	90/251	Mary Shorter, mother	19 February 1890	Rev. John Still
42	19 February 1890	Charles Mungo Harkness Aitken Jane McGregor	Charles Mungo Harkinsson Aiken Jane McGregor 💍 1890/428	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr McGregor, McFarlane Street	90/278	Henry Alexander McGregor, father	19 February 1890	Rev. J. Paterson
43	19 February 1890	John Robert Harris Emma Maria Perdue	John Robert Harris Emma Maria Purdue 💍 1890/415	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	23 26	Karori Karori	years years	House of Mr Harris, Karori	90/288		19 February 1890	Rev. Wm. Lee
44	20 February 1890	William Colvin Annie Wilson	William Colvin Annie Wilson 💍 1890/3666 Charles William Boneham Annie Wilson 💍 1890/873 William Gold Johan Wilson 💍 1890/83 William Lavery Maria Wilson 💍 1890/1498 Alexander Johnston Annie Wilson 💍 1890/1614	Widower Widow	Boilermaker	39 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/311		20 February 1890	W. I. Wyatt
45	21 February 1890	Louis Frederick Ellis Mary Rowley	Louis Frederick Ellis Mary Rowley 💍 1890/3667	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	32 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/312	Samuel Rowley, father	21 February 1890	W. I. Wyatt
46	22 February 1890	James Andrew Richard Edmonds Mary Rushton	James A R Edmonds Mary A Rushton 💍 1890/329	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	22 25	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr Rushton, Petone	90/264		22 February 1890	Rev. W. J. Watkin
47	24 February 1890	William Davis Leah Holmes	William Davis Leah Holmes 💍 1890/3668	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	43 23	Wellington Wellington	9 days 9 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	90/313		24 February 1890	W. I. Wyatt
48	24 February 1890	Donald McInnes Lydia Esther Wright	Donald McInnes Lydia Esther Wright 💍 1890/430	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	22 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Home of Mr Wright, Thompson Street	90/280		24 February 1890	Mr. Edward Lewis

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).