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 1020

District of Wanganui 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
22	15 April 1891	William Aitken Agnes Blair	William Aiken Agnes Blair 💍 1891/355	Bachelor Spinster	Timber merchant	28 22	Wanganui St. Johns Hill	28 yrs. 2 yrs.	In the residence of Mr Duncan, St. Johns Hill, Wanganui	91/1191		15 April 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
23	20 April 1891	Donald Macdonald Mary Katherine Phillpot	Donald MacDonald Mary Katherine Philpot 💍 1891/348 Donald MacDonald Mary Frew 💍 1891/2917	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer School Teacher	31 25	No. 1 Line Wanganui	10 days 6 wks.	In the residence of Mr T. S. Phillpot, Bell Street, Wanganui	91/1192		20 April 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
24	23 April 1891	Alfonso Woosman Annie Johnson	Alfonso Mossman Annie Elizabeth Johnson 💍 1891/356	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	24 20	Mosstown Wanganui	10 yrs. 14 yrs.	In the residence of Mr Edward Johnson, Sydney Place, Wanganui	91/1193	Edward Johnson, father	23 April 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
25	27 April 1891	Francis Newton Ellen Mary Corcoran	Francis Neylon Ellen Mary Corcoran 💍 1891/361	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	36 25	Wanganui Wanganui	7 yrs. 25 yrs.	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	91/1194		27 April 1891	C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
26	2 May 1891	William Tait Florence Letitia Wilkinson	William David Rea Kirker Florence Letitia Wilkinson 💍 1891/357 William Smith Fanny Wilkinson 💍 1891/2479	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	25 24	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 24 yrs.	In the residence of Mr Wilkinson, Bell Street, Wanganui	91/1195		2 May 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
27	5 May 1891	Robert Coote Alice Maude Chapman	Robert Coote Alice Maud Chapman 💍 1891/453	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 27	Wanganui Fernside Farm	3 days 6 yrs.	In the residence of Mr H. B. Chapman, Fernside Farm	91/1196		5 May 1891	David Gordon, Presbyterian
28	8 May 1891	James Rate Jenny Harrison		Bachelor Spinster	Fuller	28 25	Fordell Cherry Mount	2 yrs. 6 days	In the residence of Mr J. Harrison, Cherry Mount	91/1201		8 May 1891	T. H. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
29	25 May 1891	Thomas Edward Ford Mary Parker	Jerome Edward Hood Mary Parker 💍 1891/337	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Wanganui Marton	6 days 18 yrs.	In the residence of Mr C. Parker, Marton	91/1197	C. Parker, father	25 May 1891	G. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
30	3 June 1891	Henry Homer Elizabeth Crushan	Henry Holmes Jane Elizabeth Lenahan 💍 1891/358 Henry Crocker Elizabeth Ann McCannish 💍 1891/3094 Henry Jeffery Elizabeth Haskell 💍 1892/271 Henry Thomson Elizabeth Mudford 💍 1891/156	Bachelor	Carpenter House	38 25	Easton Easton	8 yrs. 5 mos.	In the residence of Mr Britton, Ridgway Street	91/1198		3 June 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
31	3 June 1891	George Watt Anderson Annie Allen	George Watt Anderson Annie Allen 💍 1891/359	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Conga Valley Marton	12 yrs. 16 yrs.	In the residence of Mr Rev. Treatwell, Wanganui	91/1199		3 June 1891	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
32	5 June 1891	Herbert Ernest John Buxton Minnie Beatrice Loverby	Herbert Ernest John Buxton Emma Beatrice Enderby 💍 1891/338	Bachelor Spinster	Railway manager	31 23	Wanganui Futuna	5 yrs. 23 yrs.	In the Church of England, Matarawa	91/1200		5 June 1891	J. W. Chapman, 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).