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 1468

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1891

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

119

25 March 1891

William Jackson
Ellen Miller

Frederick John Dillon
Ellen Miller
💍 1891/2295

William Wales
Carrie Miller
💍 1891/1727

Bachelor
Spinster

Justice

50
25

Dresden
Auckland

50 years
70 years

Dwelling of William Jackson

91/70

25 March 1891

Rev. J. McLennan

No	119
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jackson	Ellen Miller
BDM Match (62%)	Frederick John Dillon	Ellen Miller
	💍 1891/2295
BDM Match (60%)	William Wales	Carrie Miller
	💍 1891/1727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Justice
Age	50	25
Dwelling Place	Dresden	Auckland
Length of Residence	50 years	70 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Jackson
Folio	91/70
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLennan

120

25 March 1891

Thomas Jackson
Alice Miller

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

31
22

Ponsonby
Mt Eden

77 years
6 months

Dwelling of Thomas Jackson

91/59

25 March 1891

Rev. J. McLennan

No	120
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jackson	Alice Miller
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Mt Eden
Length of Residence	77 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Jackson
Folio	91/59
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLennan

121

25 March 1891

William Robertson
Mary Robertson

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

37
20

Birkenhead
Birkenhead

77 years
7 years

Dwelling of Alexander Nelson

91/15

Alexander Nelson, father

25 March 1891

Rev. J. McLennan

No	121
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robertson	Mary Robertson
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	37	20
Dwelling Place	Birkenhead	Birkenhead
Length of Residence	77 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Alexander Nelson
Folio	91/15
Consent	Alexander Nelson, father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLennan

122

25 March 1891

William Philip
Amelia Craig

William Henry Philip
Amelia Craig
💍 1891/3030

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

28
24

Newton
Auckland

27 years
15 years

St Paul's Church

91/82

25 March 1891

Rev. R. T. Macnicol

No	122
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Philip	Amelia Craig
BDM Match (85%)	William Henry Philip	Amelia Craig
	💍 1891/3030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Newton	Auckland
Length of Residence	27 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church
Folio	91/82
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Macnicol

123

24 March 1891

Angus Ferguson
Annie Rusden

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer

35
20

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
14 years

St Paul's Church

91/107

24 March 1891

Rev. G. Best

No	123
Date of Notice	24 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Ferguson	Annie Rusden
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church
Folio	91/107
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Best

124

25 March 1891

Andrew Wilson
Jane Mulholland

Andrew Wilson
Jane Mulholland
💍 1891/3045

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

39
31

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
14 years

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church

91/73

25 March 1891

Rev. W. McDonnell

No	124
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Wilson	Jane Mulholland
	💍 1891/3045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church
Folio	91/73
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonnell

125

25 March 1891

George Fenwick
Mary Ellen Curran

George Renwick
Mary Ellen Annan
💍 1891/23

Widower
Spinster

Carter

29
18

Newton
Newton Road

7 years
8 years

Dwelling of William Annan

91/58

William Annan, father

25 March 1891

Rev. J. McLennan

No	125
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Fenwick	Mary Ellen Curran
BDM Match (85%)	George Renwick	Mary Ellen Annan
	💍 1891/23
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Newton	Newton Road
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Annan
Folio	91/58
Consent	William Annan, father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McLennan

126

25 March 1891

Henry William Dell
Minnie Martin

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

25
27

Dargaville
Devonport

7 years
7 years

Wesleyan Church

91/85

25 March 1891

Rev. J. Filmer

No	126
Date of Notice	25 March 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Dell	Minnie Martin
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Devonport
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	91/85
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Filmer

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).