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 496

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 September 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
35	1 July 1891	Francis Popplewell Cecilia McBeth	Francis Popplewell Cecilia McBeth 💍 1891/1798	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic Servant	23 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 7 days	Residence of Mr John Gurling, Ross' arcade Timaru.	91/2545		1 July 1891	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister.
36	1 July 1891	Robert Cuthbert Edith Alice Jones	Robert Cuthbert Edith Alice Jones 💍 1891/1505	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping Clerk	31 years 23 years	Timaru Napier	10 years 9 months	Residence of Mr Thomas Raymond, Lanes, Napier.	91/2356		1 July 1891	Rev. Edward Best, Wesleyan Minister.
37	1 July 1891	Albert Edward Wake Annie Isabella Armstrong	Albert Edward Wake Annie Isabella Armstrong 💍 1891/1796	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 22 years	Timaru Claremont	3 days 8 years	Residence of Mr Matthew Armstrong, Claremont	91/2543		1 July 1891	Rev. William Lillies, Presbyterian Minister.
38	4 July 1891	James Murray Mary Callaghan	James Murray Mary Bachelor 💍 1891/1815	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	45 years 30 years	Timaru Timaru	4 days 7 days	Roman Catholic Chapel, Timaru	91/2538		4 July 1891	Rev. James Foley, Roman Catholic Clergyman.
39	7 July 1891	Harry Gregge Eliza Jane McCaa	Harry Gregge Ailsa Jane McCaa 💍 1891/1795	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	40 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	7 years 15 years	Residence of Mr Harry Gregge, Timaru	91/2542		7 July 1891	Rev. Charles Crisp Brown, Baptist Minister.
40	8 July 1891	Jonah Charles Wheeler Phoebe Fisher	Jonah Charles Wheeler Phoebe Fisher 💍 1891/1812	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	37 years 24 years	Timaru Timaru	16 years 27 years	Residence of Mr Walter Williams, Timaru	91/2535		8 July 1891	Rev. William James Williams, Wesleyan Minister.
41	20 July 1891	Kenneth Bains Agnes Brebner Gardiner	Kenneth Bain Agnes Brebner Gardiner 💍 1891/1813	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial traveller	30 years 27 years	Timaru near Sutherlands	4 days 7 days	Residence of Mr Andrew Cleland, near Sutherlands.	91/2536		20 July 1891	Rev. Alexander Bruce Todd, Presbyterian Minister.
42	21 July 1891	Charles Blackler Frances Harriett Rayner	Charles Blackler Frances Harriett Rayner 💍 1891/1793	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 years 20 years	Opihi Pleasant Point	9 years 20 years	Church of England, Pleasant Point	91/2540	William Thomas Rayner, Father.	21 July 1891	Rev. Thomas Jasper Smyth, Church of England Minister.
43	29 July 1891	Andrew Black Flora Lucretia Hill	Andrew Black Flora Lucretia Hill 💍 1891/1799	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker School Mistress	22 years 22 years	Timaru Timaru	4 days 22 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Timaru	91/2546		29 July 1891	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister.
44	31 July 1891	Joseph Shepherd Agnes Annie Stokes	Joseph Shepherd Agnes Annie Stokes 💍 1891/1801	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Timaru	91/2548		31 July 1891	Thomas Hawley, Registrar.

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).