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 1351

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1892 Registrar J. M. Patterson

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

8 January 1892

James Dalton
Margaret Ann Cook

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

31
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
12 years

Registrars Office

92/621

8 January 1892

Registrar, J. M. Patterson

No	8
Date of Notice	8 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dalton	Margaret Ann Cook
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	92/621
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Registrar, J. M. Patterson

9 January 1892

Thomas Herbert Preston
Margaret Ann Grant

Thomas Herbert Preston
Margaret Ann Grant
💍 1892/570

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

27
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

27 years
25 years

House of Rev R. R. [illegible]

92/581

9 January 1892

Rev R. R. [illegible], Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	9 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Herbert Preston	Margaret Ann Grant
	💍 1892/570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev R. R. [illegible]
Folio	92/581
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev R. R. [illegible], Presbyterian

10 January 1892

Harry Ernest Lawrence
Lucy Smith

Harry Ernest Lawrence
Lucy Smith
💍 1892/3809

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder
Tailoress

23
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

7 years
7 years

House of Mr A. Lawrence

92/610

James Smith, father

10 January 1892

Rev W. Birch, Baptist

No	10
Date of Notice	10 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Ernest Lawrence	Lucy Smith
	💍 1892/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder	Tailoress
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr A. Lawrence
Folio	92/610
Consent	James Smith, father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Birch, Baptist

11 January 1892

Henry George Allibone
Adelaide Eleanor Gee

Henry George Ell
Adelaide Eleanor Gee
💍 1892/583

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller

29
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

24 years
21 years

Church of Holy Trinity

92/572

11 January 1892

Rev W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	11 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Allibone	Adelaide Eleanor Gee
BDM Match (86%)	Henry George Ell	Adelaide Eleanor Gee
	💍 1892/583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of Holy Trinity
Folio	92/572
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Pascoe, Church of England

12 January 1892

John Smith
Jeanie Mitchley

John Smith
Jeanie Mitchley
💍 1892/639

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
5 years

Church of Good Shepherd

92/589

12 January 1892

Rev H. J. C. Gilbert, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	12 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Jeanie Mitchley
	💍 1892/639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of Good Shepherd
Folio	92/589
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. C. Gilbert, Church of England

13 January 1892

William Peters
Elizabeth Smith

William Peters
Emma Elizabeth Smith
💍 1892/3895

William Watson
Elizabeth Stephen Smith
💍 1892/3976

Bachelor
Spinster

Collar Maker

21
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

21 years
21 years

House of Mr W. Rodger, Heathcote Valley

92/612

13 January 1892

Rev L. M. Isitt, Wesleyan

No	13
Date of Notice	13 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peters	Elizabeth Smith
BDM Match (88%)	William Peters	Emma Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1892/3895
BDM Match (65%)	William Watson	Elizabeth Stephen Smith
	💍 1892/3976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Collar Maker
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. Rodger, Heathcote Valley
Folio	92/612
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev L. M. Isitt, Wesleyan

14 January 1892

William Roberton Meadows
Ada Mary Tate

William Roberton Meadows
Ada Mary Kite
💍 1892/580

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 year
5 years

House of Rev J. Orchard, High Street, Chch

92/567

14 January 1892

Rev J. Orchard, Bible Christian

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roberton Meadows	Ada Mary Tate
BDM Match (92%)	William Roberton Meadows	Ada Mary Kite
	💍 1892/580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev J. Orchard, High Street, Chch
Folio	92/567
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Orchard, Bible Christian

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).