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 110

District of Quarter ending

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
1583	20 October 1891	Paul Peter Glynn Ellen Mahoney	Paul Peter Flynn Ellen Mahony 💍 1891/2921	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	33 18	Reidston Reidston	1 week 4 years	St Joseph's Church, Oamaru	91/3485	Patrick Mahoney, Father	22 October 1891	Very Revd John MacKay, Roman Catholic
1584	21 October 1891	George Marshall Gardiner Bertha Johanna Bröckhagen	George Marshall Gardiner Bertha Johanna Mollenhagen 💍 1891/2915	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 26	Oamaru Oamaru	18 years 18 years	The house of Mr Alexander S. Morrison, Oamaru	91/3479		21 October 1891	Revd James A. Hill, Presbyterian
1585	23 October 1891	Charles McArthur Mary McPhail	Charles McArthur Mary McPhail 💍 1891/2937	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 24	Papakaio Papakaio	3 days 22 years	Papakaio Station	91/3477		23 October 1891	Revd John Steven, Presbyterian
1586	23 October 1891	Joseph James Porter Margaret Christine Bowers	Joseph James Porter Margaret Christina Bowers 💍 1891/2916	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk	27 23	Oamaru Oamaru	7 years 20 months	The house of Mr Kindunter, Meck Street, Oamaru	91/3480		23 October 1891	Revd Alexr: B. Todd, Presbyterian
1587	26 October 1891	Edward Henry Lane Julia Sophie Emrick	Edward Henry Cane Julia Sophie Fenwick 💍 1891/2935	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	30 31	Oamaru Oamaru	3 days 18 years	St Luke's Church, Oamaru	91/3475		26 October 1891	Revd H. G. Gould, Church of England
1588	30 October 1891	Donald MacDonald Mary Drew	Donald MacDonald Mary Frew 💍 1891/2917 Donald MacDonald Mary Katherine Philpot 💍 1891/348	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	38 20	Papakaio Papakaio	4 days 20 years	St Paul's Church, Manse, Oamaru	91/3481	John Drew, Father	30 October 1891	Revd Alexr: B. Todd, Presbyterian
1589	3 November 1891	Joseph Geo. Wright Eliza Ann Matthews	Joseph John Wright Eliza Ann Matthews 💍 1891/2923	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	31 23	Waiareka Junction Enfield	12 years 3 years	The house of Jonathan Moscrop, Wear Street, Oamaru	91/3487		3 November 1891	Revd Wm. A. Dunford, Wesleyan
1590	4 November 1891	John William Watkins Gloria Hannah Morton	John William Watkins Elvira Hannah Morton 💍 1891/2585	Bachelor Spinster	Steamship Officer	26	Oamaru	5 months	St Paul's Church, Dunedin	91/3514		4 November 1891	Revd E. G. Edwards, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).