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 1377

District of Masterton 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
1	13 January 1891	James Bentley Jane Creamer	James Bentley Jane Creamer 💍 1891/315	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 22	Masterton Masterton	33 years 22 years	House of Henry Bentley Masterton	91/413		13 January 1891	Rev Wm Rowse Wesleyan Minister
2	15 January 1891	Patrick Broderick Isabella Maxfield	Patrick Broderick Isabella Maxfield 💍 1891/313	Bachelor Spinster	Train Examiner	25 21	Masterton Masterton	4 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel Masterton	91/411		15 January 1891	Rev John McKenna Roman Catholic Priest
3	21 January 1891	Franz Joachim Henrich Scharmweber Maria Gertrude Schormann	Franz Joachim Renrich Scharuweber Maria Gertrud Schormann 💍 1891/317	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 16	Mangaone Eketahuna Eketahuna	3 1/2 years 10 years	House of Hermann Henrich Scharmweber Eketahuna	91/415	Hermann Henrich Scharmann father	21 January 1891	Rev M. Christensen Lutheran Minister
4	7 February 1891	George Gordon Ellen Osman	George Gordon Ellen Osman 💍 1891/322	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 17	Masterton Manaia	4 months 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	91/420	George Osman father	11 February 1891	James Aitken Deputy Registrar
5	14 February 1891	William McCabe Agnes Clarke	William McCabe Agnes Clark 💍 1891/324	Bachelor Widow	Platelayer Housekeeper	38 34	Dreyerton Masterton	4 years 6 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	91/421		14 February 1891	James Aitken Deputy Registrar
6	14 February 1891	William McCabe Agnes Clarke	William McCabe Agnes Clark 💍 1891/324	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer Housemaid	38 34	Dreyerton Masterton	4 years 6 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	91/421		14 February 1891	James Aitken Deputy Registrar
7	21 February 1891	William Henson Alice Lydia Wilton	William Henson Alice Lydia Wilton 💍 1891/318	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 27	Kuripuni Kuripuni	3 months 4 months	House of Mr Charles Wilton Kuripuni	91/416		21 February 1891	Rev Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister
8	23 February 1891	Robert Frank Wilton Jane Matthews Richardson	Robert Frank Wilton Jane Matthews Richardson 💍 1891/316	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 22	Kuripuni Upper Plain	12 years 9 years	House of Mr Jacob Matthews, Upper Plain Masterton	91/414		23 February 1891	Rev Wm Rouse Wesleyan Minister
9	4 March 1891	Peter Lawson Catherine Annie Croft	Peter Lawson Catherine Annie Croff 💍 1891/319	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	30 23	Masterton Upper Plain	3 weeks 4 weeks	House of Mr George Haigh, Upper Plain Masterton	91/417		4 March 1891	Rev William Rowse Wesleyan Minister
10	10 March 1891	George Haigh June Isabella James	George Haigh Anne Isabella James 💍 1891/320	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Masterton Wangaehu	3 days 4 years	House of Mr Henry James Woodlands	91/418		10 March 1891	Rev Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister

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).