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 996

District of Napier 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
40	28 April 1891	Robert James Howard Eliza Bowman	Robert James Howard Eliza Bowman 💍 1891/575	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	21 25	Taradale Napier	21 years 20 years	The Cathedral, Napier	91/1396		28 April 1891	Revd De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
41	29 April 1891	Donald Archibald McLean Ann Fraser	Donald Archibald McLean Annie Fraser 💍 1891/580	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Dressmaker	31 19	Marackakaho Napier	1 year 1 year	Residence of the Bride's Father, Napier	91/1401	Bride's father	29 April 1891	Revd J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister
42	6 May 1891	Henderson Neilson Annie Halpine	Henderson Wilson Annie Halpin 💍 1891/6	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	32 27	Pohui Taradale	4 years 2 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	91/1413		6 May 1891	S. J. Gage, Registrar
43	11 May 1891	Richard Huggins Elizabeth Newman	Richard Huggins Elizabeth Newman 💍 1891/3003	Bachelor Widow	Seaman	40 36	Napier Napier	2 years 1 week	Residence of Mr Charles Grant, Free Poto Gully	91/1407		11 May 1891	Revd Samuel Douglas, Presbyterian Minister
44	13 May 1891	Alexander McCutcheon Sophia Jetterson	Alexander McCutcheon Sophia Petterson 💍 1891/564	Widower Spinster	Farmer Tailoress	32 over 21	Meeanee Napier	1 year 18 years	Residence of the Bride's Father, Munroe St	91/1406		13 May 1891	Revd J. Parkinson, Church of England
45	13 May 1891	James William Gray Eleanor Simkin	James William Gray Eleanor Jenkins 💍 1891/565	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Smith Domestic	25 22	Napier Napier	19 years 9 years	Residence of the Bridegroom, Bowan Street	91/1408		13 May 1891	Revd S. Douglas, Presbyterian Minister
46	21 May 1891	Robert McCombe Edna Horana McGrady	Robert McCombe Edna Florence Mogridge 💍 1891/566	Widower Widow	Carter Boardinghouse Keeper	34 32	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	4 years 10 years	Residence of Mrs J. Saunders, Hospital Hill	91/1409		21 May 1891	Revd Oliver Dean, Church of England

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).