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 204

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 October 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
181	18 October 1891	Robert Gaskill Story Isabella Matthews	Robert Gaskill Storey Isabella Matthews 💍 1891/2360	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 Years 25 Years	Spring Creek Spring Creek	4 1/2 Years 25 Years	The Church of England, Spring Creek	91/3271		1 October 1891	Revd Geo. F. Grace
182	19 October 1891	John O'Connor Hannah Horate	John OConnor Hannah OConnor 💍 1891/2214 John O'Connor Hannah Maria Clifford 💍 1891/2338 John O'Connor Lavinia Alice White 💍 1891/3244	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	28 Years 27 Years	Tua Marina Renwick Town Road	8 Years 3 Years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	91/3268		18 October 1891	Revd Patk. Kerrigan
183	20 October 1891	Walter Illist Ellen Loudon		Bachelor Spinster	Miner	30 Years 22 Years	Renwick Renwick	about 14 months 22 Years	The Office of the Registrar, Blenheim	91/3276		17 October 1891	Registrar of Marriages
184	21 October 1891	Levi James Frances Amy Ryans	Levi James Frances Amy Rogers 💍 1891/2351	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	32 Years 24 Years	Mareal Jugus Hills, Kaikoura Kaikoura	Present Kaikoura 3 days about 8 years	The School Room, Kaikoura	91/3280		26 October 1891	Revd Wm. List ara
185	22 October 1891	Frederick George Daniels Agnes Louisa Gee	Frederick George Daniels Agnes Louisa Gee 💍 1891/2368	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 Years 21 Years	Renwick Town Renwick Town	3 Years 12 Years	The Manse, Renwick Town	91/3273		24 October 1891	Revd W. O. Robb
186	23 October 1891	John Doyle Clara Branigan	John Doyle Clara Brannigan 💍 1891/2794	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	24 Years 21 Years	Blenheim Blenheim	5 Years 2 Years	The Residence of Mrs. Norman, Nelson Street, Blenheim	91/3700		3 November 1891	Revd T. S. Grace
187	24 October 1891	Thomas Cornelius Richard Agnes Jarrett	Thomas Cornelius Prichard Agnes Grant 💍 1891/2367	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelerwright Dressmaker	27 Years 27 Years	Grove Town Spring Creek	27 Years 3 Years	St. Luke's Church of England, Spring Creek	91/3272		1 November 1891	Revd Geo. F. Grace
188	25 October 1891	Thomas Edmund Small Eliza Mary Mills	Thomas Renwick Mowat Eliza Mary Mills 💍 1891/2795	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	24 Years 25 Years	Blenheim Allimarlock, Awatere	about 14 years about 7 months	The Residence of Mr. Moral, Allimarlock, Awatere	91/3701		6 November 1891	Revd T. S. Grace
189	26 October 1891	Robert Arthur Long Elizabeth Hunter	Robert Arthur Comyn Pegou Elizabeth Hunter 💍 1891/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 Years 21 Years	Spring Creek Tua Marina	10 Years 20 Years	The Residence of Mr. Hunter, Tua Marina	91/3269		12 October 1891	Revd A. Lepetit
190	27 October 1891	James Penney Ann Catherine Emmeny	James Penney Ann Catherine Emeny 💍 1891/2369	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	27 Years 25 Years	Blenheim Blenheim	20 Years 1 1/2 Years	The Residence of Mr. Robb, Blenheim	91/3274		18 October 1891	Revd W. O. Robb
191	28 October 1891	William George Stratton Amy Gertrude Eyles	William George Stanton Amy Gertrude Eyles 💍 1891/2370	Bachelor Spinster	Book Agent	22 Years 17 Years	Blenheim Blenheim	2 Years 17 Years	The House of Selina Eyles, Kinross Street, Blenheim	91/3275	Selina Eyles, Mother	23 October 1891	Revd Henry Bull

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).