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 1473

District of Auckland 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
79	23 February 1891	William Simms Annie Heard	William Simms Annie Keand 💍 1891/3573	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 26	Newton Road Christchurch	4 months 26 years	Dwelling of John Heard, Gloucester Street, Christchurch	91/571		23 February 1891	Rev. J. Elmslie, Presbyterian
80	23 February 1891	Henry Crocker Elizabeth Ann McCamish	Henry Crocker Elizabeth Ann McCannish 💍 1891/3094	Bachelor Spinster	Letter	33 19	Auckland Auckland	7 months 19 years	Registrars Office, Auckland	91/148	Elizabeth Ann McCamish, Mother	23 February 1891	J. Owen Lord, Regr.
81	23 February 1891	Frank Ernest Peach Bertha Emily Partington	Frank Ernest Mason Bertha Emily Bartley 💍 1891/27	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 21	Devonport Devonport	6 years 21 years	Holy Trinity Church	91/61		23 February 1891	Rev. J. Bates, Ch. of England
82	23 February 1891	Thomas Henry Pratt Annie Elizabeth Redon	Thomas Henry Pratt Annie Elizabeth Stanton 💍 1891/22	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Omaha Newton	8 months 25 years	Dwelling of James Redon, Randolph Street	91/57		23 February 1891	Rev. J. C. Woodward, P. Methodist
83	24 February 1891	James Lewis Margaret Buschel	James Lewis Margaret Buschet 💍 1891/3404	Bachelor Widow	Master Mariner	50 41	Newmarket Newmarket	12 months 12 months	Dwelling of James Lewis, Newmarket	91/120		24 February 1891	Rev. J. S. Preston, Ch. of England
84	24 February 1891	Frank George Mary Jane Evans	Frank George Allen Mary Jane Evans 💍 1891/3046 Charles Lorimer Mary Jane Evans 💍 1891/2601	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	24 24	Auckland Auckland	6 years 19 years	The Tabernacle, Upper Queen Street	91/74		24 February 1891	Rev. W. Birch, Baptist
85	24 February 1891	William Albert Eliza Watters	William Albert Abercrombie Eliza Walters 💍 1891/3355	Bachelor Spinster	Letter Carrier	25 21	Ponsonby Ponsonby	25 years 15 years	Church of St. Matthew	91/35		24 February 1891	Rev. W. M. Nelson, Ch. of England
86	24 February 1891	Duncan McMillan Lilly Jane Goldie	Duncan Macnicol Lily Jane Goldie 💍 1891/3026	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	36 18	Auckland Auckland	5 years 18 years	Dwelling of James Goldie, Grafton	91/78	James Goldie, Father	24 February 1891	Rev. R. McNicoll, Presbyterian

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).