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 522

District of Christchurch 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
237	4 August 1891	Joseph Sealy Rachel Annie Anderson	Joseph Sealy Rachael Annie Anderson 💍 1891/1631	Bachelor Spinster	Seed Merchant	45 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 27 years	House of Mr. J. Beagley	91/2476		4 August 1891	Rev. H. J. E. Gilbert, Church of England
238	4 August 1891	James Jamieson Bessie Webster	James Denison Bessie Webster 💍 1891/2552	Widower Spinster	Farmer House-Keeper	54 40	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 2 years	St. Johns Church, Prebbleton	91/3407		4 August 1891	Rev. W. T. Knowles, Church of England
239	4 August 1891	Arthur William Florence Ruth	Arthur William Barker Florence Ruth Harrison 💍 1891/2820	Bachelor Spinster	Clark Housemaid	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 9 years	H. Mays Church, Merivale	91/3726		4 August 1891	Rev. S. J. Merton, Church of England
240	5 August 1891	Robert Allen Sophie Celia Taylor	Robert Allen Sophia Ann Taylor 💍 1891/1622	Bachelor Widow	Hotelkeeper	34 40	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 2 years	House of Rev. G. Webster, Museum St., Christchurch	91/2468		5 August 1891	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
241	7 August 1891	Michael Coffey Caroline Boon	Michael Coffey Caroline Boon 💍 1891/1686	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 19	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 19 years	Registrar's Office	91/2483	Sarah Boon, mother	7 August 1891	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Patterson
242	12 August 1891	William George Harriet Chitty	William George Dean Harriet Chitty 💍 1891/1640	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Machinist	25 20	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 20 years	House of Rev. Dr. Elmslie, Archifield, Christchurch	91/2462	Harriet Chitty, mother	12 August 1891	Rev. Dr. Elmslie, Presbyterian
243	12 August 1891	Norman Matthew Rainey Harris	Norman Matthew Dunlop Emily Harris 💍 1891/1529	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 32	Christchurch Christchurch	25 years 32 years	House of Wm. Harris, Fyle	91/2448		12 August 1891	Rev. R. Brown, Presbyterian
244	13 August 1891	Edward Walker Elizabeth Clarke	Edward Walker Elizabeth Clark 💍 1891/1687	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	32 39	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 6 months	Registrar's Office	91/2487		13 August 1891	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Patterson

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).