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 1409

District of Wanganui 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	7 January 1891	Jessie James Maria Collinson	Jesse James Maria Collinson 💍 1891/3088	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	33 21	Wanganui Wanganui	12 days 18 yrs	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	91/273		9 January 1891	Chas. E. Aylton Deputy Registrar
2	15 January 1891	Edward W. Fletcher Catherine Maud Field	Edward Ester Fletcher Catherine Maud Field 💍 1891/3334	Widower Spinster	Farmer	36 25	Wangaehu Aramoho	7 yrs 10 yrs	In the Church of England, Wanganui (Christchurch)	91/256		15 January 1891	T. T. Tudor - Church of England
3	17 January 1891	Richard Power Margaret Walsh	Richard Power Margaret Walsh 💍 1891/3356 Alfred Baker Margaret Walsh 💍 1891/3630 Albert Foord Margaret Walsh 💍 1892/537	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 22	Kai-iwi Kai-iwi	3 yrs 10 mos	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	91/260		17 January 1891	C. H. Kirk Roman Catholic
4	19 January 1891	John Nettle Mary Ashford		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 18	Karioi Karioi	3 yrs 5 yrs	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui (see attached)	91/263	William Ashford, father	19 January 1891	S. H. Woon Registrar
5	20 January 1891	Clarence George Hood Rachel Austin	Clarence George Lee Rachel Austin 💍 1891/3364	Bachelor Spinster	Fitterman	26 22	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 2 yrs	In the residence of Mr. William Austin, Wanganui	91/264		20 January 1891	James Treadwell Presbyterian
6	21 January 1891	William Palmer Jane Bruce	William Calman Jane Bruce 💍 1891/3365	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	29 28	Wanganui Wanganui	20 yrs 2 yrs	In the Presbyterian Church, Wanganui	91/265		21 January 1891	James Treadwell Presbyterian
7	21 January 1891	Montintella Collina Jane Frederick Hera		Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Hairdresser	27 28	Wanganui Palca	27 yrs 28 yrs	In the residence of Mr. Collina, Palca	91/266		21 January 1891	James Treadwell Presbyterian
8	26 January 1891	Thomas Haskins Kiria Jessop	Terenui Ihakara Kiria Jessop 💍 1891/3089	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	91/267		26 January 1891	S. H. Woon Registrar
9	27 January 1891	Joseph Henry Cronin Marguerite Edwards	Joseph Henry Cronin Margaret Teresa Edwards 💍 1891/3361	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler Maker	22 25	Brunswick Wanganui	12 yrs 2 yrs	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	91/261		29 January 1891	C. H. Kirk Roman Catholic
10	28 January 1891	Robert Old Susan Tope	Robert Old Susan Tozer 💍 1891/3362	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Fordell Long Acre Valley	24 yrs 21 yrs	In the residence of the Rev. C. H. Kirk, Wanganui	91/262		28 January 1891	C. H. Kirk Roman Catholic
11	30 January 1891	Sidney Herbert Stafford Ellen Hassett	Sydney Herbert Stafford Ellen Hassett 💍 1891/3363	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee	29 26	Wanganui Wanganui	2 yrs 18 mos	In the residence of Mr. S. H. Stafford, Dublin Street, Wanganui	91/263		30 January 1891	C. H. Kirk Roman Catholic

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).