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 957

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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
125	21 April 1891	Arthur Reginald Brown Mary Manson	Arthur Reginald Wolfe Mary Marsden 💍 1891/559	Bachelor Spinster	Analytical Chemist	24 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 6 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Taranaki Street	91/1299		24 April 1891	Revd. W. H. Beck
126	24 April 1891	Joseph Jackett Lily Martha Downing	Joseph Salkeld Lily Martha Downing 💍 1891/558	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 24	Wellington Wellington	2 months 26 days	Taranaki Street	91/1298		24 April 1891	Revd. W. H. Beck
127	27 April 1891	Robert Pearson Helen Margaret Jamieson	Robert Pearsons Helen Margaret James 💍 1891/2781	Bachelor Spinster	Importer	28 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Taranaki Street	91/1311		27 April 1891	Revd. C. J. Egg
128	27 April 1891	Frederick Kern Caroline Ann Erie	Frederick Burn Caroline Ann Eves 💍 1891/553	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	25 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 months	Church of Christ, Dixon Street	91/1293		27 April 1891	Mrs. A. F. Turner
129	27 April 1891	John Flinn Emma Sarah Woodham	John Flaws Emma Sarah Woodhouse 💍 1891/432	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	18 18	Karori Karori	3 years 3 years	Home of Mr. Barlow, Petone	91/1271	Catherine Flinn, Mother of Groom; Mary Helena Woodham, Mother of Bride	27 April 1891	Revd. C. H. Laws
130	28 April 1891	Thomas Burke Nora McCarthy	Thomas Burke Norah McCarthy 💍 1891/418	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	28 23	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	The Knoll	91/1281		28 April 1891	Revd. J. Merry
131	29 April 1891	William Campbell Maria Ross	William Campbell Maria Ross 💍 1891/471	Widower Widow	Blacksmith	49 39	Wellington Wellington	2 months 1 week	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/1317		29 April 1891	Mr. W. S. Wyatt
132	29 April 1891	Frederick William Gane Clara Ann Aldridge	Frederick William Cavill Clara Ann Aldridge 💍 1891/478	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	29 25	Wellington Wellington	2 weeks 4 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/1318		29 April 1891	Mr. W. S. Wyatt
133	29 April 1891	William Webster Mabel Jausten	William Webster Mabel Jensen 💍 1891/465	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	19 22	Petone Petone	6 weeks 6 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/1329	No relative in colony	1 May 1891	Mr. W. S. Wyatt
134	1 May 1891	Cornelius Connell Agnes Stewart	Cornelius OConnell Agnus Stewart 💍 1891/387	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Pahautanui Pahautanui	3 years 5 months	Roman Catholic Church, Pahautanui	91/1241		1 May 1891	Revd. John Lane
135	2 May 1891	John Pitcher Alice Eliza Lambert	John Pitcher Alice Eliza Lambert 💍 1891/433	Bachelor Spinster	Coal merchant	31 22	Wellington Wellington	5 months 3 days	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Street	91/1272		2 May 1891	Revd. J. J. Lewis
136	4 May 1891	John James Forsyth Ella Lydia Ryan	John James Forsythe Eileen Lydia Ryan 💍 1891/390	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	House of Mr. Forsyth, Cornwall Street	91/1253		4 May 1891	Revd. W. Thine
137	4 May 1891	William Henry Green Leide Mary Rose Banks	William Henry Leider Foster Mary Rose Banks 💍 1891/394	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	25 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 weeks	St. Paul's Cathedral	91/1257		4 May 1891	Revd. John Still
138	5 May 1891	James Arthur Nagar Elizabeth Agnes Lilian Mackey	James Arthur Hagar Elizabeth Agnes Lillian Sharpe Mackay 💍 1891/434	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 25	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 6 days	Wesleyan Parsonage, Taranaki Street	91/1273		5 May 1891	Revd. J. J. Lewis
139	5 May 1891	James Power Ellen Bell	James Pour Ellen Bell 💍 1891/402	Bachelor Widow	Barrister	28 40	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	91/1264		5 May 1891	Very Revd. McNamara

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).