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 628

District of Wellington 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
225	30 July 1891	Thomas Buckeridge Jane Bowden Gyere	Thomas Buckeridge Jane Bowden Osgood 💍 1891/1354	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	42 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Johns Church Woolcombe St	91/2223	30 July 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
226	1 August 1891	Apostles Cambell Jane Anna Bany	Apostles Lambert Jane Emma Barry 💍 1891/1492	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	40 17	Porirua Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/2287	1 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
227	3 August 1891	Samuel Edward Gyllencreutz Emma Gyllencreutz	Samuel Edward Gapper Emma Gyllencrentz 💍 1891/1493	Widower Spinster	Machinist	60 24	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/2288	3 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
228	3 August 1891	Frederick Augustus Jackman Margaretha Jackman	Frederick Augustus Smith Margaretta Jackman 💍 1891/1380	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr G. Harris Ebor Street	91/2256	3 August 1891	Mr A. F. Turner
229	3 August 1891	John Robarts Lucy Freeman	John Roberts Lucy Freeman 💍 1891/1329	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 31	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks years	House of Mr A. F. Turner Korigga Avenue	91/2247	3 August 1891	Very Revd J. McNamara
230	4 August 1891	John Casey Mary Donovan	John Casey Mary Donovan 💍 1891/1346	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	Khandallah Wellington	years years	Cathedral	91/2215	4 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
231	4 August 1891	William Henshaw Mary Hart	William Henshaw Mary Hart 💍 1891/1471	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years 10 days	Registrars Office Wellington	91/2290	4 August 1891	Rev. C. Edward
232	5 August 1891	Robert Hardie Alvina Smith	Robert Hardy Alvina Schmidt 💍 1891/1364	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	2 months 1 month	House of Mr Wharton King Street	91/2209	5 August 1891	Mr A. F. Turner
233	5 August 1891	William Turner Emma Haigh	William Swiney Emma Halpin 💍 1891/1330 William Wordward Emma Hammond 💍 1891/2364	Widower Spinster	Meat Preserver	41 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Walker Ghuznee Street	91/2248	5 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
234	8 August 1891	Charles Mercer Clara Blackbourn	Charles Mercer Clara Blackbee 💍 1891/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/2291	8 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
235	11 August 1891	James Cavanagh Rosa Ann Adams	James Cavanagh Rosa Ann Adams Marten 💍 1891/1473	Widower Widow	Labourer	43 42	Petone Park Terrace	years monthly	Registrars Office Wellington	91/2292	11 August 1891	Mr W. L. Wyall
236	11 August 1891	William French Alice Howell	William Dixon Alice Twindell 💍 1891/2269	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	35 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Howell Revenue Street	91/2225	11 August 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
237	11 August 1891	Robert Bryant Georgina Elizabeth Eddie	Robert Bryant Georgina Elizabeth Eddie 💍 1891/1372	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peters Church	91/2266	11 August 1891	Rev. W. C. Baker
238	13 August 1891	Richard Nelson Elizabeth Agatha Guthrie	Richard Nelson Elizabeth Martha Guthrie 💍 1891/1340	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	91/2235	13 August 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
239	14 August 1891	John Charles King Mary Eliza Retina Rendall	John Matthew King Mary Eliza Robina Bendall 💍 1891/1338	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	29 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	91/2233	14 August 1891	Rev. R. Coffey

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).