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 870

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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
680	7 April 1891	Joseph Pountree Susanna Bennett	Joseph Rountree Susannah Bennett 💍 1891/860	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 19	Tinwald Tinwald	10 years 15 years	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	91/1633	Margaret Brown, Mother	7 April 1891	Revd. S. A. Scott
681	17 April 1891	James Smith Kate Harrold	James Smith Kate Harold 💍 1891/203 James Smith Christina Macdonald 💍 1891/3673	Widower Spinster	Butcher Domestic Servant	33 18	Allenton, Ashburton Allenton, Ashburton	14 years 14 years	Private Dwelling house of George Neil at Ashburton	91/1636	Christopher R. Harrold, Father	17 April 1891	Revd. A. M. Beattie
682	2 May 1891	Francis Daly Margaret Jane Lockhart	Francis Daly Margaret Jane Lockhart 💍 1891/858	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	22 22	Ashburton Ashburton	10 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	91/1631		2 May 1891	Revd. F. Chastagnon
683	4 May 1891	William Alfred Gray Helen Hopwood	William Alfred Gray Helen Hopwood 💍 1891/861	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 25	Tinwald Tinwald	3 months 8 years	St Andrew's Church, Tinwald	91/1634		4 May 1891	Revd. S. A. Scott
684	4 May 1891	John Mawdsley Sarah Ann Harrison	John Mawdsley Sarah Ann Harrison 💍 1891/863	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	30 55	Hampstead Hampstead	3 years 3 months	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	91/1635		4 May 1891	Revd. S. A. Scott
685	5 May 1891	Alfred John Hornish Agnes Morley	Alfred John Norrish Agnes Woolley 💍 1891/857	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	24 22	Tinwald Lismore	3 months 3 months	Wesleyan Church, Hinds	91/1630		5 May 1891	Revd. Joseph N. Gray
686	5 May 1891	James Patterson Alice Coram	James Patterson Alice Crum 💍 1891/890	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Machinist	26 23	Ashburton Hampstead	3 years 10 years	Private Dwelling house of John Coram, Hampstead	91/1639		5 May 1891	Revd. J. Cocker
687	12 May 1891	Robert Bremner Sarah Ann Paterson	Roderick Bremner Sarah Ann Paterson 💍 1891/882	Bachelor Spinster	Plate-layer	26 22	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 17 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	91/1637		12 May 1891	Revd. A. M. Beattie
688	12 May 1891	John Ball Annie Elizabeth Taylor	John Bell Annie Elizabeth Taylor 💍 1891/891 James Day Annie Elizabeth Taylor 💍 1891/3610	Widower Spinster	Farmer	45 20	Waterton Waterton	14 years 12 years	The Manse, Tinwald	91/1640		12 May 1891	Revd. A. Blake
689	29 May 1891	Edward Burton Cooper Sarah Elizabeth Brown	Edward Binion Cooper Sarah Elizabeth Evans 💍 1891/895	Bachelor Spinster	Road Board Clerk	37 20	Alford Forest Alford Forest	15 years 3 years	Private Dwelling house of Benjamin Brown at Alford Forest	91/1644	Benjamin Brown, Father	29 May 1891	Revd. W. Finlayson
690	1 June 1891	Frederick Thomas Parker Jane Johnson		Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic Servant	23 22	Ashburton Ashburton	17 years 5 years	Private Dwelling house of Henry Dalley at Hampstead	91/1632		1 June 1891	Pastor J. W. Paule

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).