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 250

District of Wellington 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
351	10 December 1891	John Thomas Bicknell Jane Robertson Currie	John Thomas Bicknell Jane Robertson Currie 💍 1891/2205	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	James Currie's	91/3135	Father	10 December 1891	Rev. A. Thomson
352	12 December 1891	Charles William Russell Annie Elizabeth Hancock	Charles William Russell Annie Elizabeth Hancock 💍 1891/2271	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	23 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Wordsworth Street	91/3152		12 December 1891	Rev. J. J. Lewis
353	14 December 1891	George Mandler Sarah Annie Lott	George Mander Sarah Annie Rott 💍 1891/2215	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 27	Wellington Wellington	years 1 months	Wesley Church	91/3144		14 December 1891	Rev. C. H. Laws
354	14 December 1891	John Ernest Staples Kate Elizabeth Cork	John Ernest Staples Kate Elizabeth Cook 💍 1891/2261	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	25 23	Wellington Masterton	years years	Episcopal Church, Masterton	91/3166		14 December 1891	Rev. A. Dasent
355	15 December 1891	Henry Bay Janion Alice Isabella Penn		Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	34 22	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 days 1 week	House of Holland, Lower Hutt	91/3137		15 December 1891	Rev. W. J. Watkin
356	16 December 1891	Charles Secord Mary Elizabeth Combes	Charles Secord Mary Elizabeth McCoombes 💍 1891/2544	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 27	Lower Hutt Petone	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3180		16 December 1891	W. L. Wrigg
357	16 December 1891	Charles Henry Bird Jemima Rebecca Hayes	Charles Henry Bird Jemima Rebecca Hayes 💍 1891/2272	Bachelor Spinster	Draughtsman	21 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. W. Evans, Ghuznee Street	91/3153		16 December 1891	Rev. W. Evans
358	17 December 1891	Matthew Conrad Peters Alice Elizabeth Draper	Mathias August Peterson Alice Elizabeth Draper 💍 1891/2232	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	36 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Samuel Cottell	91/3112		17 December 1891	Mr. Samuel Cottell
359	17 December 1891	George Louis Blenchell Amy Jane Bertha Blake	George Powell Blanchett Lucy Jane Bertha Blake 💍 1891/2545	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	22 23	Wellington Wellington	14 days 10 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3181		17 December 1891	W. L. Wrigg
360	18 December 1891	Patrick Drum Frances Murphy	Patrick Drum Frances Murphy 💍 1891/2224	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Church of the Angels	91/3130	Bartholomew Murphy, Father	18 December 1891	Rev. S. G. Derry
361	18 December 1891	Frederick John William Williams Margaretta Rice	Frederick John Wilson Margaretta Ross 💍 1891/2242	Widower Spinster	Solicitor	60 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Church	91/3121		18 December 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
362	18 December 1891	William Hickey Sophia Tinceing	William Hickey Sophia Vincent 💍 1891/2547	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	25 22	Ngahauranga Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3183		18 December 1891	W. L. Wrigg
363	19 December 1891	Frederick Bradley Josephine Anne Hobbs		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Pahiatua Greenstone	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Greenstone	91/376	Henry Hobbs, Father	19 December 1891	Rev. John Lane
364	21 December 1891	James Watkin Hall Winifred Mary Read	James Watkin Hall Winifred Mary Read 💍 1891/2217	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church	91/3146		21 December 1891	Rev. C. H. Laws
365	21 December 1891	Frederick Gadsden Mary Ann Fisher	Frank Gustav Mangnuson Mary Ann Fisher 💍 1891/2277	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	30 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	St. Peter's Church	91/3158		21 December 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).