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 969

District of Masterton 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
13	6 April 1891	George Hayes Annie Martha Sanders	John George Hayes Annie Martha Sanders 💍 1891/518	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Housekeeper	29 23	Tauera Masterton	7 months 4 months	Wesleyan Church, Masterton	91/1357		25 April 1891	Revd. William Howe, Wesleyan Minister
14	6 April 1891	George Jacob Handscombe Elizabeth Hockley	George Jacob Hausmann Elizabeth Hockley 💍 1891/531	Bachelor Spinster	Builder & Cabinet Maker Housekeeper	21 17	Masterton Masterton	3 years 17 years	Presbyterian Church, Masterton	91/1346	Richard Hockley, Father	25 April 1891	Revd. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
15	20 April 1891	Simon Andrew Makhelson Josephine Christenson		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	40 22	Fernridge, Masterton Fernridge, Masterton	7 days 7 months	Residence of Registrar, Masterton	91/1353		25 April 1891	John Bagge, Registrar
16	1 May 1891	Francis McManus Mary Heron	Francis McManus Mary Kerrin 💍 1891/529	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 25	Ekatahuna Ekatahuna	12 months 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Masterton	91/1344		1 May 1891	Revd. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
17	26 May 1891	Thomas Ridgeway Alice Simpson		Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	25 20	Masterton Masterton	3 days 2 days	Residence of Revd. R. Wood, Masterton	91/1347		26 May 1891	Revd. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
18	26 May 1891	Andrew Skillington Ellen Platt		Bachelor Spinster	Shopkeeper Servant	33 26	Homewood Homewood	3 months 3 months	Residence of Registrar, Masterton	91/1354		26 May 1891	John Bagge, Registrar
19	29 May 1891	Ole Leakson Ellen Amelia Granderson		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Mauriceville Mauriceville	16 years 4 years	Residence of Registrar, Masterton	91/1355		29 May 1891	John Bagge, Registrar
20	1 June 1891	Albert Adolphus Bond Janett Carswell	Albert Adolphus Jacob Sisson Jannet Carswell 💍 1891/533	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 23	Masterton Turipuna	3 months 3 months	Residence of Revd. R. Wood, Masterton	91/1348		1 June 1891	Revd. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
21	2 June 1891	George Robert Brennan Tryphena Blewett	George Robert Bennison Angelina Blewett 💍 1891/528	Bachelor Spinster	Coach driver	29 27	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 days	Residence of Registrar, Masterton	91/1343		2 June 1891	John Bagge, Registrar
22	4 June 1891	Allan Manguson Susannah Elizabeth Monell	Allan Manguson Emma Elizabeth Murrell 💍 1891/517	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	27 17	Ekatahuna Ekatahuna	18 months 18 months	Residence of Registrar, Masterton	91/1356	John Monell, Father	4 June 1891	John Bagge, Registrar

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).