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 1293

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 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
641	5 January 1891	Robert Brown Annie Emily Marrisring	Herbert Brown Annie Emily Mannering 💍 1891/3554	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer not any	30 24	Mount Somers Ironside	30 Years 22 Years	Church of England, Ironside	91/550		5 January 1891	Ven Archdeacon B. W. Dudley
642	7 January 1891	William Arthur Rouse Lilla Mary Hunnibell	William Arthur Rowse Lilla Mary Hannibell 💍 1891/3575	Bachelor Spinster	Draper not any	25 24	Ethelton Rangiora	9 months 24 Years	Church of England, Rangiora	91/554		7 January 1891	Rev W. E. Gillam
643	9 January 1891	Richard Marshall Amelia Sills	Richard Marshall Amelia Sills 💍 1891/3555	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	28 20	Riccarton Woodend	1 1/2 Years 20 Years	Residence of Robert Sills	91/551	R. Sills, father	9 January 1891	Revd.
644	9 January 1891	Harry Ball Elizabeth Amelia Hall	Harry Ball Elizabeth Amelia Hall 💍 1891/3564	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	21 19	Rangiora Southbrook	18 months 14 Years	Residence of William Grapes	91/553	Mother	9 January 1891	Revd.
645	22 January 1891	William Groves Humphrys Roselynd Burbery	William George Humphreys Rosalynd Burbery 💍 1891/3552	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	25 20	Hairapoi Rangiora	2 Years 6 Years	Residence of Mr Humphrys	91/548	Father	22 January 1891	Revd Richd. Tont
646	27 January 1891	William Mowat Emily Skudder	William Mowat Emily Skudder 💍 1891/3581	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	26 26	Ashley Ashley	26 Years 11 months	Residence of Thomas Skudder	91/555		27 January 1891	Revd Richd. Tont
647	29 January 1891	Thomas Hiddowson Elizabeth Births	Thomas Widdowson Elizabeth Banks 💍 1891/3549 Thomas Dillon Elizabeth Errington 💍 1891/326 Thomas Harris Elizabeth Erwin 💍 1891/285 Thomas Johnston Elizabeth Akers 💍 1891/1984 Thomas Thompson Elizabeth Laing 💍 1892/433	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	34 24	Ironside Hamner Plains	1 month 12 months	Office of Registrar	91/546		29 January 1891	Geo. Purchas, Registrar
648	7 February 1891	Joseph Stevens Annie Elizabeth Miles	Joseph Stevens Annie Elizabeth Miles 💍 1891/3556	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd not any	24 22	Woodend Rangiora	4 days 22 Years	Residence of Mr J. Hopkins	91/552		7 February 1891	Revd G. J. Murray, Woodend
649	14 February 1891	Joseph Davis Mind Mary Bradley	Joseph Davis Maud Maria Bradley 💍 1891/3553	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	21 20	Whitecliffs West Eyreton	12 months 20 Years	Residence of Mr J. S. Duffett	91/549	William Bradley, father	14 February 1891	Revd H. B. Martin, Rangiora
650	7 March 1891	Thomas Dobson Martha Vallens	Thomas Dobson Martha Vallens 💍 1891/3550	Widower Spinster	Labourer not any	50 22	Ashley Ashley	19 Years 14 Years	Office of Registrar	91/547		7 March 1891	Geo. Purchas, Registrar
651	23 March 1891	George Millcocks Annie Martha Jane Prior	George Willcocks Elinor Martha Lane Prior 💍 1891/3571	Bachelor Widow	Wool dealer not any	49 48	Ohoka Flaxston	4 Years 5 Years	Church of England, Flaxston	91/569		23 March 1891	Revd William Gruden, Flaxston
652	31 March 1891	James Andress Melbourne Ada Thompson	James Andrew Melbourne Ada Thompson 💍 1891/650	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith not any	26 25	Oxford Rangiora	4 months 6 Years	Office of Registrar	91/497		31 March 1891	George Purchas, Registrar

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).