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 552

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1892

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
266	3 September 1892	Ronald McIntosh Mary Whitmore	Donald McIntosh Ada Mary Whitmore 💍 1892/2456	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman Servant	36 21	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 8 months	House of Rev. S. Murray, Paparua	92/2543		3 September 1892	Rev. S. Murray, Wesleyan
267	3 September 1892	William Alfred Sillifant Eliza Mason	William Alfred Sillifant Eliza Mason 💍 1892/2427	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker Draper	27 29	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 7 years	House of R. W. Marriott, Cashel Street	92/2525		3 September 1892	Rev. J. Baker, Congregational
268	5 September 1892	Simeon Joseph Heightway Grace Holdsworth	Simeon Joseph Heighway Grace Holdsworth 💍 1892/2421	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	32 29	Christchurch Christchurch	13 days 20 years	House of W. J. Holdsworth, Fendalton	92/2502		5 September 1892	Rev. L. M. Isitt, Wesleyan
269	5 September 1892	Timothy Breen Mary Kelly	Timothy Breen Mary Kelly 💍 1892/2379 Michael Powley Mary Kelly 💍 1892/1687	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	35 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 days 26 years	Roman Catholic Church, Shand's Track	92/2529		5 September 1892	Rev. Father Foley, Shand's Track
270	8 September 1892	Andrew Curle Annie Walch	Andrew Curle Maria Annie Walsh 💍 1892/3992	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	7 days 7 days	Roman Catholic Church, Barbados Street	92/2972		8 September 1892	Rev. J. Cummings, Roman Catholic
271	9 September 1892	Donald Fry Matilda Micacleum	Donald Fry Matilda Meachem 💍 1892/2538	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	24 27	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 7 years	Registrars Office	92/2574		9 September 1892	Registrar of Marriages
272	10 September 1892	Martin Hale Mary Gearschawskie	Martin Shalug Mary Gearsehawski 💍 1892/2431 Martin Maley Mary Williams 💍 1892/4071	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 17	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 17 years	St. Marys Church, Manchester Street	92/2506	Michael Gearschawskie, Father	10 September 1892	Rev. McManus, Roman Catholic
273	12 September 1892	Charles Dean Hadfield Sarah Jewitt	Charles Edward Hadfield Sarah Jewitt 💍 1892/2455	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 18 years	House of Mr. & Mrs. Jewitt, Harewood Road	92/2542		12 September 1892	Rev. S. J. Murray, Wesleyan

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).