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 630

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
195	2 July 1891	James Donald Overend Ellen Eliza Lowe	James Donald Overend Ellen Eliza Lowe 💍 1891/1379	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 21	Kenwarra Wellington	years years	Registrar office Wellington	91/2273		2 July 1891	W. T. Wyong
196	3 July 1891	Jonathan Thomas Linder Marion Galvin	Jonathan Thomas Louden Marion Galvin 💍 1891/1381	Bachelor Spinster	Shearer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar office Wellington	91/2274		3 July 1891	W. T. Wyong
197	6 July 1891	Herbert Palmer Henton Jessie Deacon	Herbert Palmer Henton Jessie Dixon 💍 1891/1371	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	24 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	91/2265		6 July 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
198	6 July 1891	Charles Scott Mary Hickey	Charles Tate Mary Hickey 💍 1891/1392	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	26 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Mary of the Angels Church	91/2262		6 July 1891	Rev. J. Leong
199	6 July 1891	Thomas Rea Mary Ann Hayes	Thomas Rea Mary Anne Hayes 💍 1891/1367	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years years	Roman Catholic Church Lower Hutt	91/2212	John Harper, father	6 July 1891	Rev. John Love
200	6 July 1891	Thomas Philip Kemble Laura Ann Welch	Thomas Philip Kemble Laura Ann Welch 💍 1891/1335	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	24 27	Taita Taita	3 days years	Christ Church Taita	91/2253		7 July 1891	Rev. Joshua Jones
201	7 July 1891	William James Hitching Jessie Eliza Wallace	William James Hirschberg Jessie Eliza Wallace 💍 1891/1370	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	31 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St Peters Church	91/2264		7 July 1891	Rev. W. C. Waters
202	7 July 1891	John Sandy Wright Annie Kate Reuleaux	John Tandy Wright Annie Kalt-Reuleaux 💍 1891/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 33	Wellington Wellington	1 month 5 days	Registrar office Wellington	91/2275		7 July 1891	W. T. Wyong
203	7 July 1891	Henry John Naggie Elizabeth Cochrane	Henry John Haggie Elizabeth Cochrane 💍 1891/1383	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	45 42	Wellington Wellington	6 years years	Registrar office Wellington	91/2276		7 July 1891	W. T. Wyong
204	8 July 1891	Edward Banfield Augusta Annie White		Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Sydney Street House	91/2220		8 July 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
205	9 July 1891	William Henry Earland Ellen Alice Tagakerley	William Henry Earland Ellen Alma Fazakerley 💍 1891/1384	Bachelor Spinster	Gallaner	33 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar office Wellington	91/2277		9 July 1891	W. T. Wyong
206	10 July 1891	William John Blews Emily Agnes Fox	William John Blows Emily Agnes Fox 💍 1891/1336	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 17	Taita Taita	years years	Christ Church Taita	91/2254	Helen Brown, mother	10 July 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
207	10 July 1891	Edward Albert Isaac Annie Carter	Edward Albert Isaac Annie Carter 💍 1891/1337	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	28 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	91/2232		10 July 1891	Rev. J. Paterson
208	10 July 1891	Daniel Harris Ellen Gardner	David Harris Ellen Gardner 💍 1891/1352	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	The Manse Woolcombe Street	91/2221		10 July 1891	Rev. J. Thomas
209	13 July 1891	Herbert Cork Bessie Thompson Graham	Herbert Cook Bessie Thompson Graham 💍 1891/1377	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 19	Petone Lower Hutt	years years	Presbyterian Church Petone	91/2271	Thomas Gore Graham, father	13 July 1891	Rev. J. Paterson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).