Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 251

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1891

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
336	27 November 1891	George Makgill Frances Elizabeth Grant	George Makgill Frances Elizabeth Grant 💍 1891/2241	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks years	St Marks Church	91/3120		27 November 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
337	27 November 1891	David Robert Caldwell Mary Dunlop McKenow	David Robert Caldwell Mary Dunlop McKerrow 💍 1891/2789	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	35 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Johns Church Willis Street	91/3718		27 November 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
338	27 November 1891	Frank Elvines Ella Lavina Huddy	Frank Elvines Ellen Lavina Huddy 💍 1891/2541	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler Maker	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years 4 months	Registrars office Wellington	91/3177		27 November 1891	W. S. Wyall
339	27 November 1891	John Thomson Mary Smith Watson	John Thomson Mary Smith Watson 💍 1891/2236 John Donaldson Mary Jane Watson 💍 1891/1059	Widower Widow	Saddler	43 44	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	House of Mr Thomson Senr Upper Hutt	91/3116		27 November 1891	Rev. J. W. Hope
340	1 December 1891	Isaac William Gustavson Zillah Atkinson	Isaac William Gustavson Zillah Atkinson 💍 1891/2542	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	24 37	Petone Wellington	1 week years	Registrars office Wellington	91/3178		1 December 1891	W. S. Wyall
341	1 December 1891	Ernest Jones Annie Kerin Hepparck Rankin	Ernest Jones Annie Kerin Happick Rankin 💍 1891/2248	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Rankin, Rankin Road	91/3104	Dans Rankin, Father	1 December 1891	Rev. C. S. Ward
342	1 December 1891	Alfred Melville Agnes Smith	Alfred Melville Agnes Louisa Smith 💍 1891/2247	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr C. Smith Taranaki Street	91/3103	Christopher Smith, Father	1 December 1891	Rev. C. S. Ward
343	2 December 1891	Sydney Arthur Edinger Florence Richards	Sydney Arthur Edinger Florence Richards 💍 1891/2276	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 18	Wellington Wellington	6 months years	St Peters Church	91/3157	Thomas Richards, Father	2 December 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
344	4 December 1891	John Mitchell Ann Gray	John Mitchell Ann Gray 💍 1891/2790	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 24	Hutt Valley Pahautanui	years years	Home of Mrs Geddes Pahautanui	91/3719		4 December 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
345	5 December 1891	Henry Samuel Cole Agnes Laurence Laing Livingston	Henry Samuel Cole Agnes Lawrence Laing Doubleday 💍 1891/2786	Bachelor Widow	Barrister	29 34	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Andrews Church	91/3715		5 December 1891	Rev. C. J. Ogg
346	5 December 1891	John Hall Stockton Emily Penge	John Hall Flockton Emily Benge 💍 1891/2250	Bachelor Spinster	Shopman	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom Vivian Street	91/3106		5 December 1891	Rev. H. B. Reastine
347	7 December 1891	William Hamlin Ada Maxwell Shearer	William Hamlin Ada Maxwell Shearer 💍 1891/2212	Widower Spinster	Grocer Smith	33 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bride Willis Street	91/3142		7 December 1891	Rev. C. E. Wallaston
348	8 December 1891	Robert Stephenson McFarland Sarah Mary Corbett	Robert Stephensen McFarland Sarah Mary Corbett 💍 1891/2225	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	32 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	St Pauls Cathedral	91/3131		8 December 1891	Rev. F. W. Walker
349	8 December 1891	John William Gibson Elizabeth Jane Kelly	John William Gibson Elizabeth Jane Kelly 💍 1891/2253	Bachelor Spinster	Pork Butcher	25 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Kelly Vivian Street	91/3150		8 December 1891	Rev. J. J. Lewis
350	9 December 1891	George Beck Susannah Chapman	George Beck Susannah Chapman 💍 1891/2543	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Worker	28 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/3179		9 December 1891	W. S. Wyall

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).