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 1388

District of Reefton 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	28 January 1892	James Hunter Charlotte Gosling	James Hunter Charlotte Gosling 💍 1892/3798	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 21	Reefton Saddle Reefton	2 years 3 years	At the residence of Mr George Wells, Contractor - Reefton	92/525		28 January 1892	Revd W. H. Wilson
2	2 February 1892	William Hichin Kilner Hannah Adelaide Hodgson	William Hitchin Kilner Hannah Adelaide Hodgson 💍 1892/3799	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	24 25	Reefton Reefton	3 days 3 days	St Stephen's Church Reefton	92/526		2 February 1892	Revd W. H. Wilson
3	5 February 1892	Joseph Hetherington Silcock Marydile Morrison	Joseph Hetherington Silcock Mary Little Morrison 💍 1892/3800	Widower Spinster	Farmer	32 28	Larrys Creek Boatmans Cweeks	4 years Miner Boatmans	At the residence of George Farrell	92/527		5 February 1892	Revd J. W. Worboys
4	5 February 1892	John Ellerif Emily Vincent	John Ellery Emily Vincent 💍 1892/2724 John Calder Mary Vincent 💍 1893/554	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Dressmaker	35 24	Blacks Point Blacks Point	5 years 3 years	At the residence of the Bridegrooms, Blacks Point	92/2858		5 February 1892	Revd J. W. Worboys
5	8 February 1892	Robert Smith Elizabeth Ann Richards	Robert Smith Elizabeth Ann Richards 💍 1892/2725	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	24 19	Blacks Point Blacks Point	6 months 14 years	Our Lady Wesleyan Church, Blacks Point	92/2859	John Richards, father	8 February 1892	Revd J. W. Worboys
6	29 February 1892	John Perry Mary Theresa Kittson	John Terry Mary Teresa Kittson 💍 1892/502	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk of Courts	25 22	Reefton Reefton	3 days 9 years	Our Lady Roman Catholic Chapel Reefton	92/524		29 February 1892	Revd J. Holland
7	25 March 1892	Edward Grattan Coughlan Eva Jackson	Edward Grattan Coughlan Eva Jackson 💍 1892/3801	Bachelor Spinster	Actor Actress	23 21	Reefton Reefton	8 days 8 days	At St Stephen's Church Reefton	92/528		25 March 1892	Revd W. H. Wilson
18	16 December 1891	Thomas Stephens Kate Weatherley	Thomas Stephens Kate Weatherley 💍 1892/503	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 18	Reefton Saddle Reefton Saddle	2 years 8 months	At the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Reefton	92/529		6 January 1892	Henry Lucas - Registrar

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).