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 1410

District of Wairau 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	2 January 1892	Arthur John Day Charity Thomas	Arthur John Day Charity Thomas 💍 1892/545	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturers Assistant	22 years 22 years	Percy Street Blenheim Hutcheson Street Blenheim	about 10 years about 13 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Blenheim	92/486	2 January 1892	The Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
2	25 January 1892	Charles James Liggins Minnie Morshead	Charles James Liggins Minnie Morshead 💍 1892/3795	Widower Spinster	Shipping Manager	34 years 24 years	Westport Blenheim	7 years 4 years	The Wesleyan Church, Blenheim	92/496	25 January 1892	Revd Henry Bull
3	26 January 1892	Herbert Alfred Hobbs Mary Lillian Reardon	Herbert Alfred Hobbs Mary Lillian Reardon 💍 1892/561	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber and Tinsmith Machine Agent	26 years 24 years	Auckland Street, Blenheim Market Street, Blenheim	10 years about 6 years	The Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	92/480	26 January 1892	Very Revd P. A. Kerrigan
4	28 January 1892	Robert Gillon Clara Eleanor Jones	Robert Gillon Clara Eleanor Jordan 💍 1892/550	Bachelor Spinster	Woodcutter Housemaid	23 years 21 years	Mr J. F. Morats, Springlands Masonic Hotel, Blenheim	4 years 10 years	The Presbyterian Manse, Blenheim	92/491	28 January 1892	Revd W. O. Robb
5	29 January 1892	Thomas Murray Fanny Sturgeon	Thomas Murray Fanny Sturgeon 💍 1892/546	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 years 28 years	Awatere Awatere	16 years 7 months	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	92/487	29 January 1892	The Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
6	9 February 1892	Clarence Herbert Snow Sarah Ellen Oliver	Clarence Herbert Snow Sarah Ellen Oliver Murphy 💍 1892/547	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 years 27 years	Blenheim Blenheim	5 years 3 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	92/488	9 February 1892	The Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
7	15 February 1892	David Walker Alice Bleaudler	David Walker Alice Chandler 💍 1892/551	Bachelor Spinster	Rolliter Dressmaker	22 years 22 years	Auckland Street, Blenheim Dillons Pond Road, Opawa Terrace	8 years about 17 years	The House of Mr George Bleaudler, Opawa Terrace	92/492	15 February 1892	The Revd J. S. Grace
8	17 February 1892	John Alexander Brown Christina Elizabeth Source	John Alexander Brosnan Christina Elizabeth Bruce McIver 💍 1892/548	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	28 years 25 years	Blenheim Renwick	2 years 25 years	The Presbyterian Manse, Blenheim	92/489	17 February 1892	Revd W. O. Robb
9	29 February 1892	Henry Francis Hall Emily Lucy Weston	Henry Francis Hall Emily Lucy Weston 💍 1892/383	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	29 years 22 years	Blenheim Austin Street, Wellington	3 months about 6 years in Wellington	St. Mark's Church (Anglican), Wellington	92/327	29 February 1892	Revd Richd Coffey, M.A. Wellington
10	1 March 1892	Robert George Petre Elizabeth Grace Ferguson	Robert George Petre Elizabeth Grace Ferguson 💍 1892/562	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master, Traffic Dept, Midland Railway	29 years 24 years	usual Reefton, present Blenheim Blenheim	3 days 5 years	The Residence of Mr J. P. Lucas, Blenheim	92/481	1 March 1892	Very Revd P. A. Kerrigan

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).