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 252

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
321	11 November 1891	George Edward Emanuel Kalkin Elizabeth Kalkin		Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3175		11 November 1891	H. Swyatt
322	11 November 1891	Richard William Martin Margaret Kennedy	Richard William Maitiu Margaret Kennedy 💍 1891/2221	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years months	Exchange Hall, Wellington	91/3127		11 November 1891	Rev. I. Perry
323	12 November 1891	Herbert Augustus Robert Huggins Ada Annie Cocking	Herbert Augustus Robert Huggins Ada Annie Cocking 💍 1891/2257	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	23 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr Huggins	91/3162		12 November 1891	Mr A. F. Turner
324	12 November 1891	William Burgoine Hardin Gertrude Armstrong	William Burgozne Hudson Gertrude Armstrong 💍 1891/2456	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	33 21	Wellington Palmerston North	years years	St. Paul's Church, Palmerston North	91/3090		12 November 1891	Revd. H. P. Raikes
325	13 November 1891	William Frederick Ambler Augusta Kneggo	William Frederick Ambler Augusta Lavinia Krugge 💍 1891/2788	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr Kneggo	91/3717		13 November 1891	Revd. J. Paterson
326	14 November 1891	John O'Connor Hannah O'Connor	John OConnor Hannah OConnor 💍 1891/2214	Bachelor Spinster	Coachmaker	37 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Church of the Angels	91/3126		14 November 1891	Revd. J. Perry
327	16 November 1891	Edward Whiteman Weaver Mary Agnes Nurrell	Edward Whiteman Mary Agnes Burrell 💍 1891/2787	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 22	Bringaroo Bringaroo	years years	House of Revd. J. Paterson	91/3716		16 November 1891	Revd. J. Paterson
328	16 November 1891	Frederick James Chislett Emily Jenks	Frederick James Chisholm Emily Tonks 💍 1891/2264	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	91/3151		16 November 1891	Revd. J. J. Lewis
329	16 November 1891	Henry Barnes Mary Margaret O'Shea	Henry Barnes Mary Margaret O'Shea 💍 1891/2260	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Ohakune Ohakune	years years	St. John's Church, Karori	91/3165		16 November 1891	Revd. A. Dasent
330	17 November 1891	John Durrant Alice Campbell	John Durrant Alice Campbell 💍 1891/2259 John Sutherland Elizabeth Campbell 💍 1891/906	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Worker	34 35	Wellington Petone	years years	Home of Mr Glenburn, Petone	91/3164		17 November 1891	Mr A. F. Turner
331	18 November 1891	Frederick Meniger Adelaide Jansie	Frederick Weniger Adelaide Jansis 💍 1891/2535	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	25 29	Wellington Wellington	years months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	91/3176		18 November 1891	W. L. Wyatt
332	20 November 1891	William Milton McCardle Charlotte Isabella Tedcole	William Wilson McCardle Charlotte Isabella Sedcole 💍 1891/2785	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Alfred West, Carterton	91/3114	Father	20 November 1891	Revd. E. I. Egg
333	20 November 1891	Arthur William Petherick Mabel Elizabeth Gray	Arthur William Petherick Mabel Elizabeth Gray 💍 1891/2258	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr Webb, Webb Street	91/3163		20 November 1891	Revd. C. I. Egg
334	23 November 1891	Frank Cowlham Marion Herbert	Frank Cowlan Marion Herbert 💍 1891/2222	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Sailor	29 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street	91/3128		23 November 1891	Revd. I. Perry
335	27 November 1891	Frederick William Scellen Serena Ruth McCarthy	Frederick William Fielder Florence Ruth McCarthy 💍 1891/2256	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	21 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mr S. McCarthy	91/3161		27 November 1891	Revd. W. Powell

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).