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 1386

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
76	16 March 1891	John Henry Coward Alice Jane Rodden	John Henry Dowsett Alice Jane Roddis 💍 1891/3172	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 19	Petone Petone	4 years 4 years	Episcopalian Church, Petone	91/359	Joseph Rodden, Father	16 March 1891	Revd. Joshua Jones
77	16 March 1891	Daniel Alabaster Annie Donaldson	Daniel Alabaster Annie Donaldson 💍 1891/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	24 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/392		16 March 1891	W. S. Wyatt
78	18 March 1891	Arthur Washington Vernon Margaret Vernon	Arthur Washington Margaret Vernon 💍 1891/3475	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 20	Upper Hutt Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/393	Thomas Vernon, Father	18 March 1891	W. S. Wyatt
79	19 March 1891	Frederick William Chapman Clara Churchill	Frederick William Chapman Clara Churchill 💍 1891/63	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	22 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	S. Peters Church	91/334		19 March 1891	Revd. W. E. Waters
80	19 March 1891	William Simmons Catherine Elizabeth Crokey	William Simmons Catherine Elizabeth Crosskey 💍 1891/43	Bachelor Spinster	Cycle Dealer	34 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	S. Pauls Cathedral	91/338		19 March 1891	Revd. John Still
81	20 March 1891	George Matheson Kate Duffy	George Mathieson Kate Duffy 💍 1891/3062	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand	36 32	Wellington Wellington	4 weeks 4 weeks	S. Marys Cathedral	91/322		20 March 1891	Very Revd. J. McNamara
82	21 March 1891	Frederick Joe Coley Lucy Alice Gardiner	Frederick Joe Oxley Lucy Alice Gardiner 💍 1891/3072	Widower Spinster	Clerk	42 30	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	S. Marks Church	91/309		21 March 1891	Revd. R. Coffey
83	23 March 1891	Albert Edward Webley Annie Morrison	Albert Edward Webley Annie Morrison 💍 1891/3476 William Walker Annie Morrison 💍 1891/2660	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	21 19	Petone Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/394	Sarah Isabella Morrison, Mother	23 March 1891	W. S. Wyatt
84	23 March 1891	Francis Edward Wood Mary Josephine Conroy	Francis Edwin Wood Mary Josephine Conway 💍 1891/56	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand	30 28	Wellington Oriental Bay	3 days 10 days	House of Mr. Conroy, Oriental Bay	91/350		23 March 1891	Revd. J. K. Elliott
85	23 March 1891	John Lancelot Pardon Matilda Harris	John Lancelott Barlow Matilda Harris 💍 1891/3159	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	22 19	Kilbirnie Kaiwarra	4 weeks 4 years	House of Mr. Harris, Kaiwarra	91/370	Jonah Harris, Father	23 March 1891	Revd. C. E. Ward
86	24 March 1891	Allan Cameron Adonia Taylor	Allan Cameron Annie Taylor 💍 1891/60	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Gollans Valley Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of The Revd. J. Paterson, Welcombe Road	91/331		24 March 1891	Revd. J. Paterson
87	25 March 1891	William Thomas Wynyard Margarita Cecilia Person	William Thomas Wynyard Marguarita Cecilia Bishop 💍 1891/539	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 14 days	S. Marks Church	91/303		25 March 1891	Revd. R. Coffey
88	26 March 1891	Francis Howes Louisa West	Francis Howse Louisa Watts 💍 1891/3477	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	34 26	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/395		26 March 1891	W. S. Wyatt
89	26 March 1891	John Autoney Noyer Sarah Bierne	John Antoney Noger Sarah Beirne 💍 1891/3155 John Martin Crozier Sarah Birch 💍 1891/383	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	25 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	S. Mary of the Angels	91/366		26 March 1891	Revd. J. O'Leary
90	26 March 1891	Frederick Henry Mills Emily Pearce	Frederick Henry Mills Emily Pearce 💍 1891/3479	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	27 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	91/396		26 March 1891	W. S. Wyatt

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).