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 1444

District of Masterton 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
1	1 January 1892	William Madeleffe Minnie Bray	William Radcliff Minnie Bray 💍 1892/448	Bachelor Spinster	Trapper Servant	30 21	Masterton Masterton	5 days 5 days	Church of England Masterton	92/419		1 January 1892	Rev. W. B. Paige Church of England Minister
2	13 January 1892	Rawhira Paku Kohine Whatarohwa Terange	Rawhira Paku Hineiwhakarehua Terangi 💍 1892/2721	Widower Spinster	Farmer	35 24	Taueru Taueru	3 years 4 years	Native Church Taueru	92/2855		13 January 1892	Rev. Te Note Wesleyan Minister
3	12 February 1892	Augustus Frederick Goddard Ellen Westbrook	Augustus Frederick Goddard Ellen Westbrook 💍 1892/450	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	21 17	Masterton Masterton	12 weeks 17 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	92/420	Joseph Westbrook Father	12 February 1892	John Bagge Registrar
4	23 February 1892	Frank White Gertrude Maria Grimmer	Frank White Gertrude Maria Grimmer 💍 1892/451	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer Housemaid	26 21	Tawataia Road Eketahuna Eketahuna	6 years 2 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages Masterton	92/421		23 February 1892	John Bagge Registrar
5	1 March 1892	Pierce Charles Freeth Alice Eliza Jane Robieson	Pierce Charles Freetts Alice Eliza Jane Robieson 💍 1892/446	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	22 25	Masterton Cavilands	4 days 1 Month	House of Mr James Robieson Cavilands	92/416		1 March 1892	Rev. William Ballachey Church of England Minister
6	1 March 1892	George Frances Pearce Maud Mary Wardell	George Francis Pearce Maud Mary Wardell 💍 1892/3804	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 26	Te White Masterton Te White Masterton	3 days 10 days	House of Mr H. Wardell Te White Masterton	92/415		1 March 1892	Rev. John McKenna Roman Catholic Priest
7	21 March 1892	Thomas McFadden Annie Tyson	Thomas McFadden Annie Tyson 💍 1892/453	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	21 23	Mangamahoe Mangamahoe	9 days 1 month	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Masterton	92/422		21 March 1892	James Aitken Deputy Registrar
8	28 March 1892	Thomas Bacon Ruth Willon	Thomas Bacon Ruth Wilton 💍 1892/93	Bachelor Spinster	Rabbiter	30 21	Upper Plain Masterton Upper Plain Masterton	1 week 1 year	House of Mr Thomas Willon Upper Plain Masterton	92/1330		28 March 1892	Rev. Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister
9	30 March 1892	Frederick George Gray Couper Mary Arabella Lamb Lowes	Frederick George Gray Couper Mary Arabella Lamb Lowes 💍 1892/447	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer	23 22	Masterton Masterton	3 days 10 years	Presbyterian Church Masterton	92/417		30 March 1892	Rev. Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister

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).