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 666

District of Wellington 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
228	8 August 1892	William Edland Jane Farrell	William Edlund Jane Fawcett 💍 1892/2194	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	31 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	92/2334		8 August 1892	W. L. Wyatt
229	8 August 1892	George Amos Ledsham Louisa Maud Maker	George Amos Ledsham Louisa Maud Matson 💍 1892/2195	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	Registrars office Wellington	92/2335		8 August 1892	W. L. Wyatt
230	9 August 1892	William Coltman Louisa Mary Ann Ingle	William Coltman Louisa Mary Ann Ingle 💍 1892/2163	Widower Widow	Watchmaker	55 52	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Rev. C. Dallaston	92/2295		9 August 1892	Rev. C. Dallaston
231	9 August 1892	Peter Hartshorn Kate McDougall Briggs	Peter Hartshorn Kate Briggs 💍 1892/2154	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 24	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 months	St. Mary of the Angels	92/2293		9 August 1892	Rev. J. Sherry
232	10 August 1892	Frederick Reynell Mabel Louisa Watts	Fredrick Meyrick Mabel Louisa Watts 💍 1892/2657	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	24 19	Wellington Wellington	3 days 6 weeks	Princess Hotel	92/2890	William Watts, Father	10 August 1892	Rev. J. Paterson
233	12 August 1892	David Murray Welch Ellen Elizabeth Cheesman	David Murray Welch Calder Ellen Elizabeth Cheesman 💍 1892/2176	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier and Carter	34 32	Wellington Kilbirnie	years years	Presbyterian Church, Pirie Street	92/2315		12 August 1892	Rev. J. K. Elliott
234	13 August 1892	James Edward Hagan Gertrude Pruden	James Hagan Gertrude Pruden 💍 1892/2157	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	24 24	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years 1 year	The Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	92/2273		13 August 1892	Rev. John Lane
235	16 August 1892	William Scott Alice Louise Hammon	William Scott Alice Louise Hammon 💍 1892/2185	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Merchant	27 20	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 months	House of Mr. Peter Elizabeth Street	92/2301	Mr. Hammon, Father	16 August 1892	Rev. Alfred Peters
236	16 August 1892	Arthur Chote Sarah Hagan	Arthur Chote Sarah Hagan 💍 1892/2156	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	25 22	Wellington Trentham	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	92/2272		16 August 1892	Rev. John Lane
237	17 August 1892	Alfred James Anson Mary Elizabeth Legg	Alfred James Anson Mary Elizabeth Legg 💍 1892/2196	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years 5 months	Registrars office Wellington	92/2336		17 August 1892	W. L. Wyatt
238	19 August 1892	John McKee Matilda Sheriff Thwaites	John McKee Matilda Sheriff Thwaites 💍 1892/2142	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	30 25	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	St. Pauls Cathedral, Thorndon	92/2282		19 August 1892	Rev. F. Hipworth
239	23 August 1892	Josiah Tucker Elizabeth Candy		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 35	Wellington Petone	5 days 5 days	House of the Rev. A. Thomson	92/2844		23 August 1892	Rev. A. Thomson
240	25 August 1892	William Greenowen Mary Tozer	William Green Owen Mary Tozer 💍 1892/2155	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 24	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 6 weeks	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street	92/2294		25 August 1892	Rev. J. Devoy
241	29 August 1892	John O'Donovan Josephine Whitaker	John O'Donovan Josephine Whitaker 💍 1892/2184	Bachelor Widow	Constable	34 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marys Cathedral	92/2300		29 August 1892	Rev. J. Lawson
242	29 August 1892	William John Dawson Amelia Butt	William John Davison Amelia Bull 💍 1892/2197	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	92/2337		29 August 1892	W. L. Wyatt

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).