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 1088

District of Auckland 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
179	25 April 1891	Edward Campbell Emma Frances Moulton	Edward Campton Emma Frances Moulden 💍 1891/3252	Divorced Spinster	Foreman Spinster	33 24	Auckland Auckland	33 years 24 years	Church of St Matthew	91/1015		25 April 1891	Rev. R. P. Outrene, Ch of England
180	25 April 1891	Reuben Keane Jane Elizabeth Meredith	Reuben Leonard Jane Elizabeth Meredith 💍 1891/126	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Worker Spinster	26 24	Auckland Te Aroha	2 years 2 months	Registrar's Office, Auckland	91/1084		25 April 1891	J. Owen, Registrar
181	25 April 1891	Thomas Harris Elizabeth Irvine	Thomas Harris Elizabeth Erwin 💍 1891/285	Bachelor Spinster	Gum Sorter Spinster	24 23	Ponsonby Auckland	3 months 23 years	Dwelling of John Harris, Ponsonby	91/1034		25 April 1891	Rev. W. Kaycock, Methodist
182	27 April 1891	Robert Duncan Sarah Melgan Robinson		Bachelor Spinster	Miller Spinster	19 21	Auckland Auckland	10 years 7 months	Church of St Paul	91/1012	Elizabeth Gilbert, mother	27 April 1891	Rev. D. C. Maclaren, Ch of England
183	27 April 1891	Frank Thomas Barker Martha Crochett	Frank Thomas Jeffries Martha Crockett 💍 1891/3268	Bachelor Spinster	Boot Maker Spinster	23 25	New North Rd Mt Eden	3 years 25 years	Church of St Barnabas	91/1007		27 April 1891	Rev. J. S. Spoer, Ch of England
184	27 April 1891	George William Barker Wilson Annie Crochett	George William Wilson Annie Crockett 💍 1891/3267	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Spinster	26 25	Newmarket Mt Eden	4 years 25 years	Church of St Barnabas	91/1006		27 April 1891	Rev. J. S. Spoer, Ch of England
185	27 April 1891	William Ralph Barker Annie Elizabeth Copas	William Walsh Anna Elizabeth Copas 💍 1891/282	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Spinster	24 21	Ponsonby Ponsonby	5 years 21 years	Church of St John the Baptist, Parnell	91/1031		27 April 1891	Rev. J. M. Hencison, R. Catholic
186	28 April 1891	Jeremiah Sullivan Sarah Mary Copas	Jeremiah Sullivan Sarah Myra Storey 💍 1891/1122	Bachelor Spinster	Sail maker Spinster	38 38	Auckland Auckland	10 years 11 years	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland	91/1987		28 April 1891	J. J. O'Callaghan, R. Catholic

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).