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 928

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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
735	3 May 1892	Arthur Ernest Bean Jane Alexandra Roberts	Arthur Ernest Bean Jane Alexandria Roberts 💍 1892/1891	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	28 26	Ashburton Ashburton	14 years 8 years	St. Stephen's Church at Ashburton	92/1949		3 May 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
736	7 May 1892	William Robert Clarke Mary Ethel Moore	William Robert Clarke Mary Ethel Moore 💍 1892/1893	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Dromore Dromore	6 years 4 years	Private Dwelling of Alfred Holthy Moore at Dromore	92/1950	Alfred Holthy Moore, Father	7 May 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
737	10 May 1892	John Ivanhoe Stayman Mary Ann Addis	John Henry Jones Mary Ann Addis 💍 1892/2669	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 22	Ashburton Hampstead	13 years 10 years	Private Dwelling of George Addis at Hampstead	92/2878		10 May 1892	Revd. G. Clement
738	21 May 1892	John Ivanhoe Stayman Susanna Elizabeth Low	John Ivanhoe Hayman Susanna Elizabeth Low 💍 1892/1500	Bachelor Spinster	Caretaker Saleyards	29 22	Ashburton Saleyards Willowby	16 years 16 years	Wesleyan Church at Willowby	92/1643		21 May 1892	Revd. J. H. Gray
739	23 May 1892	William Moor Eliza Jane Gray	William Moor Eliza Jane Gray 💍 1892/1499	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	27 24	Ashburton Willowby	3 days 2 years	Wesleyan Church at Willowby	92/1642		23 May 1892	Revd. J. H. Gray
740	25 May 1892	James William Davis Margaret McIntyre	James William Davis Margaret McIntyre 💍 1892/1517	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 21	Ashburton Forks Ashburton Forks	13 years 21 years	Presbyterian Church at Ashburton	92/1652		25 May 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
741	25 May 1892	James Ashton Harriett Corbitt	James Ashton Harriett Corbitt 💍 1892/1501	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 22	Ashburton Ashburton Forks	16 years 17 years	Wesleyan Church at Ashburton	92/1644		25 May 1892	Revd. E. Savory
742	11 June 1892	Duncan Fraser Margaret McLeod	Duncan Fraser Margaret McLeod 💍 1892/1518 Duncan MacRae Margaret Ann McLeod 💍 1892/3881	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	27 23	Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush	5 years 3 days	Private Dwellinghouse of Donald Forbes at Shepherd's Bush	92/1661		11 June 1892	Revd. A. B. Todd
743	21 June 1892	David John Doak Sarah Wilson	David John Doak Sarah Wilson 💍 1892/1528	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Wakanui Beareview	15 years 12 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Thomas Wilson at Beareview	92/1653		21 June 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
744	27 June 1892	Robert Thomas Button Fanny Fawcett	Robert Thomas Button Fanny Fawcelt 💍 1892/1894	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Miller	38 30	Peel Forest, Ashburton Hampstead	(1) 18 years (2) 3 days 9 years	St. Stephen's Church at Ashburton	92/1951		27 June 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
745	27 June 1892	John Fitzgerald Esther Agatha Butler	John Fitzgerald Esther Agatha Butler 💍 1892/1498	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	31 29	Ashburton Ashburton	10 years 14 years	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	92/1641		27 June 1892	Revd. F. Chartagnon

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).