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 860

District of Timaru Quarter ending 30 June 1891 Registrar Thomas Shanley

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
21	13 April 1891	Arthur Coles Ellen Pleasant	Arthur Coles Ellen Pleasant 💍 1891/887	Widower Widow	Contractor	45 45	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	St. Mary's Church, Timaru	91/1659		13 April 1891	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister
22	20 April 1891	Richard Mahany Annie Conley	Richard Mahony Annie Couley 💍 1891/789	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	23 21	Timaru Timaru	16 years 7 months	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	91/1662		20 April 1891	Revd. James Foley, Roman Catholic Clergyman
23	21 April 1891	Name not visible Lavinia Burton Cook	Alexander Knox Agnew Lavinia Burton Cook 💍 1891/778	Widower Spinster	Farmer	27 26	Pleasant Point Pleasant Point	12 years 8 years	Residence of Mr John Cook, Pleasant Point	91/1661		21 April 1891	Revd. Richard Dout, Presbyterian Minister
24	23 April 1891	Samuel Cain Ellen Eagle	Samuel Cain Ellen Eagle 💍 1891/876	Widower Spinster	Farmer	42 24	Levels Plains Levels Plains	4 weeks 4 weeks	Residence of Mr. Samuel Cain, Levels Plains	91/1649		23 April 1891	Revd. John Waters, Presbyterian Minister
25	27 April 1891	Henry McMullan Ellen Mechen	Henry McMullan Ellen Mechen 💍 1891/800	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	23 21	Wai-iti Wai-iti	1 year 12 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Timaru	91/1667		27 April 1891	Thomas Shanley, Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
26	29 April 1891	Daniel Geaney Sarah Cramin	Daniel Geaney Sarah Cronin 💍 1891/796	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Barmaid	33 25	Timaru Timaru	15 years 18 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Timaru	91/1663		29 April 1891	Revd. James Foley, Roman Catholic Clergyman
27	8 May 1891	Malcolm Orton Agnes Lane	Malcolm Ortan Agnes Lane 💍 1891/801	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	19 17	Pleasant Point Timaru	19 years 16 years	Registrar's Office, Timaru	91/1668	Reginald Orton, Father. John Lane, Father.	8 May 1891	Thomas Shanley, Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
28	30 May 1891	Thomas Henry Gourlay Hellen Dunn Mitchell	Thomas Henry Gourley Hellen Dunn Mitchell 💍 1891/885	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	34 29	Timaru Timaru	5 months 4 days	Residence of Mr. John Kacy, Cliff Street, Timaru	91/1657		30 May 1891	Revd. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
29	2 June 1891	Timothy Cotter Kate Annie Dunnage	Timothy Cotter Kate Annie Dunnage 💍 1891/797	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	26 21	Timaru Pleasant Point	8 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Timaru	91/1664		2 June 1891	Revd. James Foley, Roman Catholic Clergyman
30	5 June 1891	James Finlayson Minnie Caroline Grant	James Finlayson Minnie Caroline Grant 💍 1891/802	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	32 33	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Timaru	91/1669		5 June 1891	Thomas Shanley, Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

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 1899. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).