Intentions to Marry, 1892

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840404, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

Page 151

District of Quarter ending

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
304	4 October 1892	Herbert Malcolm Scott Elizabeth Eastwick	Herbert Malcolm Scott Elizabeth Eastwick 💍 1892/3510	Bachelor Spinster	Farrier	21 18	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 18 years	Registrars Office	92/3624	George Eastwick, Father	4 October 1892	J. M. Vautier
305	7 October 1892	Thomas Ferguson Russell Christina Crawford Russell	Thomas Ferguson Christina Crawford Russell 💍 1892/3365	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Printer	27 25	Christchurch F. Ogdenham	7 years 25 years	House of Mrs. Russell	92/3574		7 October 1892	Rev. H. Irvine, Presbyterian
306	7 October 1892	James Townsend Giles Jessie Constance Giles	James Townsend Jessie Constance Giles 💍 1892/3377	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Servant	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 3 years	Registrars Office	92/3626	Giles, Father	7 October 1892	J. M. Vautier
307	10 October 1892	Jim Stapleton Jefford Rose Jefford	Jim Stapleton Rose Jefford 💍 1892/3376	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Machinist	24 18	Christchurch Burnside	24 years 18 years	Holy Trinity Church	92/3562	Elizabeth Jefford, Mother	10 October 1892	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
308	10 October 1892	David Waghorn Kate Maria Wharton		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 26	Christchurch Knightstown	9 days 9 days	St. Matthew's Church	92/3611		10 October 1892	Rev. H. Williams, Church of England
309	11 October 1892	Robert Goodsman Telfer Jessie Parker	Robert Goodsman Telfer Susan Parker 💍 1892/3388	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Housekeeper	38 28	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 13 years	Registrars Office	92/3627		11 October 1892	J. M. Vautier
310	11 October 1892	Thomas Fordham Cordner Elizabeth Cordner	Thomas Fordham Elizabeth Cordner 💍 1892/3500	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 2 years	St. Michael's Church	92/3615		11 October 1892	Rev. W. Harper, Church of England
311	12 October 1892	Clifton Walter Wright Eunice Fletcher	Clifton Walter Wright Eunice Fletcher 💍 1892/3375	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Servant	48 27	Christchurch Avonside	3 years 27 years	Holy Trinity Church	92/3561		12 October 1892	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

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).