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 646

District of Rangitikei 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
27	11 July 1891	Robert Hunt Agnes Constance Grindstone	Robert Hunt Agnes Constance Grimstone 💍 1891/1313	Widower Spinster	Licensed Victualler	32 19	Marton Marton	2 years 1 year	Railway Hotel, Marton	91/2162	Margaret Grindstone, Mother	11 July 1891	Revd. Thos. Geo. Wellington
28	13 July 1891	Pirita Moe Rangi Hirata Tou Toka		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 25	Hou Hou Hou Hou	12 years 12 years	Maori Church, Hou Hou			1891	Church of England
29	25 July 1891	Arthur Goldsworthy Mary Ann Peachey	Arthur Goldsmith Mary Ann Peachey 💍 1891/1319	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Turakina Turakina	9 months 17 years	Registrar's Office, Turakina	91/2168	John Peachey, Father	25 July 1891	F. M. Wright, Registrar
30	28 July 1891	Edward Henry Julius Goile Beatrice Stoite Lewis	Edward Henry Julius Gaile Beatrice Lewis 💍 1891/1316	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	25 20	Marton Greatford	12 years 17 years	Residence of Mr. Lewis, Greatford	91/2165	William Lewis, Father	28 July 1891	Revd. W. Gordon, Presbyterian
31	6 August 1891	William Crewfield Priscilla Rebecca Pickering	William Crenfeldt Priscilla Rebecca Pickering 💍 1891/1832	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 19	Hunterville Hunterville	10 months 14 days	Deputy Registrar's Office, Hunterville	91/2158		6 August 1891	W. F. Chaney, Deputy Registrar, Wanganui
32	6 August 1891	Thomas Adams Lee Frances Martin	Thomas Adams Lee Frances Martin 💍 1891/1300	Bachelor Widow	Sawyer	46 37	Rata Rata	2 years 3 years	Deputy Registrar's Office, Marton	91/2169		6 August 1891	W. F. Chaney, Deputy Registrar
33	11 August 1891	John Burrell Sarah Challoner Fullgrove	John Burn Sarah Challoner Snellgrove 💍 1891/1317	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 30	Hunterville Marton	3 months 20 years	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	91/2166		11 August 1891	Revd. A. Towgood, Church of England
34	13 August 1891	James Ching Elizabeth Prestidge	James Cheiy Elizabeth Prestidge 💍 1891/1301	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Domestic	32 25	Marton Honey Acre	6 months 8 years	Deputy Registrar's Office, Marton	91/2170		13 August 1891	W. F. Chaney, Dept. Registrar
35	21 August 1891	Thomas Donald Margaret Tuinion	Thomas Donald Margaret Tinnion 💍 1891/1318	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 25	Hunterville Marton	6 months 1 month	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	91/2167		21 August 1891	Revd. A. S. Towgood, Church of England
36	22 August 1891	Edward Arthur Tomlinson Catherine Clarke	Edward Arthur Tomlinson Catherine Clerke 💍 1891/1315	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	21 17	Bulls Bulls	18 months 1 year	St. Andrew's Church, Bulls	91/2164	William Eliza Clarke, Mother	22 August 1891	Revd. A. S. Towgood, Church of England

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).