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 214

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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
79	2 October 1891	Wm Ross Christina Mingle	William Ross Christina Pringle 💍 1891/2342	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 21	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	2 years 15 years 1 month	In the House of the Bride's Father at Port Ahuriri	91/3252		2 October 1891	Rev S Douglas, Presbyterian
80	7 October 1891	Alexander Thatcher Henrietta Maria Smale	Alexander Strachan Henrietta Maria Smale 💍 1891/2344	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 19	Puketapu Puketapu	3 years about 2 months	In the residence of the Bride's father at Puketapu	91/3254	William John Smale, Father of Henrietta Maria Smale	7 October 1891	Rev C.L. Tuke, Church of England
81	12 October 1891	John Murray Snoggett Rebecca McRoberts	John Murray Hingston Rebecca McRoberts 💍 1891/2347	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 21	Moawhanga Wairoa	2 years 20 Years	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	91/3257		12 October 1891	J.J. Registrar
82	12 October 1891	Robert Campbell Miller Mary Marshall	Robert Campbell Millar Mary Marshall 💍 1891/2313	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	30 31	Petane Petane	7 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church, Napier	91/3243		14 October 1891	Rev J.S. Paterson, Presbyterian
83	16 October 1891	William Harris Martha Shellam	William Harris Martha Shellan 💍 1891/2963 William Harris Amelia Bailey 💍 1891/3395	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Domestic	25 19	Port Ahuriri Napier	2 years 17 years	Langwell, Church of England, Napier	91/3753	Alfred George Shellam, Father of Martha Shellam	16 October 1891	Rev Parkinson, Church of England
84	20 October 1891	John O'Brien Annie Paterson	John O'Brien Annie Peterson 💍 1891/2320 John OBrien Hannah Doherty 💍 1891/3785	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	24 21	Pt Ahuriri Pt Ahuriri	2 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	91/3249		20 October 1891	Rev Father Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest
85	26 October 1891	Alfred Richmond Rookfort Mary Lilian Rookfort	Alfred Richmond Mary Lilian Rockfort 💍 1891/2959	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister Solicitor	29 23	Feilding Napier	2 days 23 years	The Cathedral, Napier	91/3749		29 October 1891	Dean Hovell, Church of England
86	26 October 1891	Harry Frederick Jeborg Gustava Heathcote		Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	28 25	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	10 months 24 years	Residence, Taradale	91/3253		29 October 1891	Rev S. Douglas, Presbyterian
87	29 October 1891	Henry Edward Griggs Elizabeth Alice Edwards	Henry Edward Griggs Elizabeth Alice Edwards 💍 1891/2960	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Domestic	21 26	Napier Napier	5 days 7 years	The Cathedral, Napier	91/3750		29 October 1891	Dean Hovell, Church of England

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).