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 1168

District of Auckland 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
196	7 May 1892	Henry Edwards Lucy Elizabeth Anderson	John Henry Edwards Lucy Elizabeth Anderson 💍 1892/2626	Bachelor Spinster	Engraver	31 25	Ponsonby Mt Eden	6 years 25 years	Church of St Barnabas	92/2850		7 May 1892	Revd W. J. Miller
197	7 May 1892	Walter Charles Waterhouse Florence Mary Oldfield	Walter Charles Waterhouse Florence Mary Oldfield 💍 1892/3845	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	25 27	Newton Rd Eden Terrace	3 years 2 years	The Christian Meeting House	92/998		7 May 1892	J. R. Greenwood
198	7 May 1892	Harrison Rotherham Caroline Mary Buchanan	Harrison Rotherham Caroline Mary Buchanan 💍 1892/1024	Widower Spinster	Merchant	31 33	Ponsonby Mt Roskill	6 weeks 27 years	Congregational Church	92/994		7 May 1892	Revd W. J. Miller
199	9 May 1892	Andrew McKinstry Margaret Annie Cathen	Andrew McKinstry Margaret Annie Cather 💍 1892/858	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Otahuhu Otahuhu	2 years 19 years	Dwelling of William Cathen	92/944	William Cathen, Father	9 May 1892	Revd J. Steele
200	10 May 1892	John McNeill Mary McHough	John McNeile Mary McIlroy 💍 1892/1874 John McNeil Mary Leahy 💍 1892/3267 John McGregor Mary McGregor 💍 1892/3179	Bachelor Spinster	Setter	28 24	Mangawai Auckland	5 months 1 month	Church of St Matthews	92/1970		10 May 1892	Revd R. O. Outram
201	10 May 1892	Walter Barratt Mary Eleanor Eustace	Walter Barr Eustace Mary Eleanor Lloyd 💍 1892/1042	Bachelor Spinster	Bolter	23 21	Newmarket Ellerslie	23 years 8 years	Church of St Sepulchre	92/989		10 May 1892	Revd J. Marshall
202	10 May 1892	James Lindsay Banks Mary Isabelle Ranks	James Lindsay Mary Isabella Shanks 💍 1892/1856	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 24	Raukapakapa Raukapakapa	13 years 24 years	Dwelling of John Cameron	92/1968		10 May 1892	Revd R. Sommerville
203	10 May 1892	Alfred Timothy Duckfield Mabel Evelyn Vansant	Alfred Timothy Daxfield Mabel Evelyn Sanson 💍 1892/886	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 23	Point Chevalier Waterview	8 years 23 years	Methodist Church	92/973		10 May 1892	Revd W. Potter

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).