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 1454

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
31	29 January 1892	John Robert Cornish Jessie Annie Baddon	John Robert Cornish Jessie Annie Badden 💍 1892/388	Widower Spinster	Custodian	42 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Dennison, Willis Street	92/331		29 January 1892	Revd. G. G. Dallaston
32	1 February 1892	John William Lammas Margaret Thomas	John William Lammas Margaret Thomas 💍 1892/387	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Builder	24 25	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Baptist Chapel	92/330		1 February 1892	Revd. G. G. Dallaston
33	1 February 1892	Lewis Ridgway Mary Hawkins	Lewis Mudgway Mary Hawkins 💍 1892/437	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Johnsonville Johnsonville	years 7 months	Registrars office, Wellington	92/390	James Hawkins, Father	1 February 1892	W. T. Wyatt
34	1 February 1892	Donald Level Wilson Clara Ball	Donald McLeod Wilson Clara Ball 💍 1892/376	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	25 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Rogers, Rogers Road	92/320		1 February 1892	Revd. W. Shiner
35	6 February 1892	Charles Connor Elise Amelia Render	Charles Connor Elise Amelia Bender 💍 1892/405	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	27 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	92/349		6 February 1892	Revd. J. Devoy
36	8 February 1892	James Baillie Elizabeth Holmes	James Baillie Elizabeth Holmes 💍 1892/29 Stanley Wakefield Shaw Elizabeth Holmes 💍 1892/3109	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	25 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	92/378		8 February 1892	Revd. J. K. Elliot
37	8 February 1892	William John Branigan Annie Watson	William John Branigan Annie Watson 💍 1892/415	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	24 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Taylor, Ellice Street	92/358		8 February 1892	Revd. W. H. Beck
38	10 February 1892	Thomas Francis Neeta Marie Ball	Thomas Francis Meeta Marie Ball 💍 1892/438	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Smith	25 21	Wellington Wellington	5 days 5 days	Registrars office, Wellington	92/391		10 February 1892	W. T. Wyatt
39	10 February 1892	Lesley William Fowler Annie Amelia Schmidt	Leslie William Fowler Annie Amelia Schmidst 💍 1892/379	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 16 days	St. Marks Church	92/323		10 February 1892	Revd. R. Coffey
40	10 February 1892	James Churchill Isabella Clement Smith	James Churchill Matilda Clement Smith 💍 1892/380	Bachelor Spinster	Bottler	46 32	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	St. Marks Church	92/324		10 February 1892	Revd. R. Coffey
41	11 February 1892	William Shirer Ada Mary Sidey	William Shirer Ada Mary Sidey 💍 1892/420	Widower Spinster	Presbyterian Minister	32 25	Wellington Kilbirnie	years years	House of Mr. Sidey, Kilbirnie	92/340		11 February 1892	Revd. J. Paterson
42	11 February 1892	Walter Ernest Pearson Wilmot Elizabeth Rawson	Walter Ernest Pearson Wilmot Elizabeth Rawson 💍 1892/439	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	36 42	Wellington Wellington	2 months years	Registrars office, Wellington	92/392		11 February 1892	W. T. Wyatt
43	13 February 1892	Stephen James Hobbs Alice McLaughlan	Stephen James Hobbs Alice McLoughlin 💍 1892/406	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	92/350	Father	13 February 1892	Revd. J. W. Goggan
44	16 February 1892	William Jennings Hannah Fenton Drummond	William Jennings Hannah Fenton Drummond 💍 1892/400	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	33 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Dixon Street	92/336		16 February 1892	Revd. J. Paterson
45	19 February 1892	George Beale Eva Buck	George Beale Eva Buck 💍 1892/31	Bachelor Spinster	Currier	22 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Molesworth Street	92/362	Father	19 February 1892	Revd. G. H. Laws

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).