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 956

District of Wellington 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
110	16 April 1891	Henry Thomas Savage Sarah Augusta Roberts	Henry Thomas Savage Sarah Augusta Roberts 💍 1891/549	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	28 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1312		16 April 1891	W. S. Lyall
111	17 April 1891	George Leonard Hooper Margaret Whitewood	George Leonard Hooper Margaret Whitwell 💍 1891/557	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 24	Wellington Wellington	years	Wesleyan Parsonage Adelaide Road	91/1297		17 April 1891	Revd. W. H. Beck
112	18 April 1891	Edward Griggs Elizabeth McMillan	Edward Griggs Elizabeth McMillan 💍 1891/431	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 23	Wellington Wellington	years	Home of Bride Groom Lane	91/1270		18 April 1891	Revd. John J. Lane
113	18 April 1891	James Humphry Janet Mary Evans	James Humphrey Janet Mary Evans 💍 1891/535	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years 5 months	House of Humphrey Burdett Street	91/1291	Father	18 April 1891	Revd. R. Coffey
114	18 April 1891	Richard Henry Vile Caroline Peach	Richard Henry Wilsen Caroline Peach 💍 1891/544	Bachelor Widow	Ironmonger	36 35	Wellington Wellington	7 months 3 days	St. Marks Church	91/1308		18 April 1891	Revd. R. Coffey
115	18 April 1891	Edward Rigepecky Virginia Louisa James	Edward Rizepecky Elizabeth Louisa James 💍 1891/550	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	20 20	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1313	John Robert James, Father	18 April 1891	W. S. Lyall
116	20 April 1891	Lewin Hackworth Gertrude Amy Graham	Lewin MacKworth Taverner Gertrude Amy Graham 💍 1891/389	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 25	Wellington Karori	years years	St. Marys Church Karori	91/1252		20 April 1891	Revd. H. Classic
117	20 April 1891	Henry Augustus Everitt Sarah Ann Elizabeth Williams	Henery Augustis Evans Sarah Ann Elizabeth Williams 💍 1891/551	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	34 24	Wellington Wellington	8 months years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1314		20 April 1891	W. S. Lyall
118	21 April 1891	Charles Henry Williams Mary Ann Blackford	Charles Henry Williams Mary Ann Blatchfirst 💍 1891/397	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 25	Karori Karori	years	Congregational Church Terrace	91/1260		21 April 1891	Revd. G. J. Allen
119	21 April 1891	John Joseph Lodge Hannah Fleming	John Joseph Lodge Hannah Fleming 💍 1891/416	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	33 25	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary & the Angels	91/1279		21 April 1891	Revd. S. Gheory
120	22 April 1891	Thomas Forbes Moffat Jane Elizabeth Brown	Thomas Forbes Moffatt Jane Elizabeth Hunt 💍 1891/552	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1315		22 April 1891	W. S. Lyall
121	22 April 1891	Thomas Hepney Isabella McCulloch		Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	32 23	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Johns Church Willis Street	91/1247		22 April 1891	Revd. J. Paterson
122	22 April 1891	Nicholas Abbey Selina Barrow	Nicholas Abbott Selina Barrow 💍 1891/409	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 29	Horokiwi Valley Horokiwi Valley	years	Home of Mr. Barrow Horokiwi Valley	91/1248		23 April 1891	Revd. J. Paterson
123	23 April 1891	Harry Walker Dew Emma Louise Dedobury	Harry Walter Moss Emma Louisa Didsbury 💍 1891/421	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 25	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Peters Church	91/1284		22 April 1891	Revd. W. C. Waters
9561	23 April 1891	Frank George Buck Long Elizabeth Krieg	Frederick George Buck Bertha Mary Elizabeth Krieg 💍 1891/460	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 21	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars Office Wellington	91/1316		23 April 1891	W. S. Lyall

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).