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 1508

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1892 Registrar WA Barlow

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

662

13 January 1892

William Brooks
Ellen Ashdown

William Brooks
Ellen Ashdown
💍 1892/218

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General Servant

21 years
21 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
21 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

92/195

13 January 1892

WA Barlow, Registrar

No	662
Date of Notice	13 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brooks	Ellen Ashdown
	💍 1892/218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General Servant
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	92/195
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1892
Officiating Minister	WA Barlow, Registrar

663

25 January 1892

Robert Nock
Louisa Goldsmith

Robert Nock
Louisa Goldsmith
💍 1892/217

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
None

32 years
19 years

Gisborne
Makaraka

9 years
12 months

At the residence of J.W. Bright, Makaraka

92/194

Frederick Goldsmith, father of the said Louisa Goldsmith

25 January 1892

The Rev: L.D. Gibson, Wesleyan minister

No	663
Date of Notice	25 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Nock	Louisa Goldsmith
	💍 1892/217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	None
Age	32 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Makaraka
Length of Residence	9 years	12 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of J.W. Bright, Makaraka
Folio	92/194
Consent	Frederick Goldsmith, father of the said Louisa Goldsmith
Date of Certificate	25 January 1892
Officiating Minister	The Rev: L.D. Gibson, Wesleyan minister

664

27 January 1892

John Gordon
Louisa Theile

John Gordon
Louisa Theile
💍 1892/220

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
None

23 years
23 years

Ormond
Te Karaka

5 years
12 months

At Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

92/196

27 January 1892

WA Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	664
Date of Notice	27 January 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon	Louisa Theile
	💍 1892/220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	None
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	5 years	12 months
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	92/196
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1892
Officiating Minister	WA Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

665

15 February 1892

James Copeland Field
Ida Mary Lynskey

James Copland Field
Ida Mary Lysnar
💍 1892/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
None

27 years
27 years

Manutuke
Gisborne

9 years
4 years

Church of England, Gisborne

92/188

15 February 1892

Rev: J.E. Fox, Church of England Minister

No	665
Date of Notice	15 February 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Copeland Field	Ida Mary Lynskey
BDM Match (85%)	James Copland Field	Ida Mary Lysnar
	💍 1892/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	None
Age	27 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Manutuke	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	92/188
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev: J.E. Fox, Church of England Minister

666

26 February 1892

William Cooper
Elizabeth Morris

William Cooper
Elizabeth Morris
💍 1892/221

Widower
Widow

Stock dealer
None

40 years
44 years

Te Araroa
Waerenga a Hika

22 years
44 years

The Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

92/197

26 February 1892

WA Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	666
Date of Notice	26 February 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cooper	Elizabeth Morris
	💍 1892/221
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stock dealer	None
Age	40 years	44 years
Dwelling Place	Te Araroa	Waerenga a Hika
Length of Residence	22 years	44 years
Marriage Place	The Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	92/197
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1892
Officiating Minister	WA Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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 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).