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 1389

District of Wellington 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
31	4 February 1891	Samuel Berryman Fanny Mary Adshead	Samuel Berryman Fanny Mary Adshead 💍 1891/42	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	30 22	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	St. Pauls Cathedral	91/337		4 February 1891	Rev. John Still
32	4 February 1891	Philip North Eby Fitzgerald	Philip North Abby Fitzgerald 💍 1891/3154	Bachelor Spinster	Tram Driver	25 24	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	St. Mary of the Angels	91/365		4 February 1891	Rev. P. Kerrigan
33	4 February 1891	John Stephen Rice Ellen Cecilia Higgins	John Stephen Rice Ellen Cecillia Higgins 💍 1891/3170	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	22 21	Johnsonville Johnsonville	5 years 5 years	House of Mrs. Smith, Johnsonville	91/357		4 February 1891	Rev. C. H. Laws
34	5 February 1891	Leonard Sutton Ann Grove	Leonard Sutton Ann Grove 💍 1891/3488	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 24	Wellington Lower Hutt	3 days 5 years	Registrars office, Wellington	91/383		5 February 1891	W. T. Wyatt
35	6 February 1891	Samuel Taylor Harriet Illingworth	Samuel Taylor Harriet Illingworth 💍 1891/3156	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	31 23	Wellington Wellington	10 months 6 months	House of Mr. Henry White, Cuba Street	91/367		6 February 1891	Rev. Josiah Ward
36	7 February 1891	Hugh Clark Margaret McMartin	Hugh Clark Margaret McCarten 💍 1891/3057	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	34 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Marys Cathedral	91/318		7 February 1891	Very Rev. J. McNamara
37	7 February 1891	Alexander Scott Annie Keenan	Alexander Scott Annie Keenan 💍 1891/3058	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	29 26	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	St. Marys Cathedral	91/319		7 February 1891	Very Rev. J. McNamara
38	9 February 1891	Edward Lee Kirkland Alice Maud Worger	Edward Lee Kirkland Alice Maud Worger 💍 1891/3068	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 25	Wellington Wellington	5 years 9 months	St. Marks Church	91/305		9 February 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
39	9 February 1891	Eugene O'Connor Annie Bronahan	Eugene OConnor Annie Brosnan 💍 1891/3059	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	30 21	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	St. Marys Cathedral	91/320		9 February 1891	Rev. Wm. Goggan
40	11 February 1891	William Bishop Harriet Christian Symes	William Bishop Harriet Christian Symes 💍 1891/3489	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping Agent	45 37	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	Registrars office, Wellington	91/384		11 February 1891	W. T. Wyatt
41	11 February 1891	Arthur Miller Annie Wills	Arthur Miller Annie Wills 💍 1891/3157	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Wellington Wellington	5 days 5 years	House of Mr. Wills, Hanson Street	91/368	Philip Wills, Father	11 February 1891	Rev. C. E. Ward
42	12 February 1891	Albert Nicolson Mary Sullivan	Albert Nicholson Mary Sullivan 💍 1891/3169	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Permanent Way, Ingestrie Street	91/356		12 February 1891	Rev. Joseph Berry
43	13 February 1891	William Joseph Meek Martha Ann Nicholson	William Joseph Meek Martha Ann Nicholson 💍 1891/3457	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	64 20	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	Congregational Church, Courtenay Place	91/299	Thomas Nicholson, Father	13 February 1891	Rev. Wm. Powell
44	16 February 1891	Thomas Field Elizabeth Sarah Stanley	Thomas Field Elizabeth Sarah Stanley 💍 1891/44	Widower Spinster	Ironmonger	58 44	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	91/339		16 February 1891	Rev. John Still
45	17 February 1891	Joseph Vincent Lonsdale Mary Jane Riley	Joseph Vincent Lousdale Mary Jane Riley 💍 1891/58	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	26 25	Wellington Wellington	5 years 5 years	St. Johns Church, Willis Street	91/329		17 February 1891	Rev. J. W. Hope

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).