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 1331

District of Ashburton 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
713	12 January 1892	John Spring Margaret Daley	John Spring Margaret Daly 💍 1892/598	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	28 years 28 years	Mitcham Mitcham	2 months 3 days	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	92/655		12 January 1892	Revd. J. P. Chartagnon
714	19 January 1892	Alfred John Symell Baxter Mary Campbell Boyle	Alfred John Tyrrell-Baxter Mary Campbell Boyle 💍 1892/3906	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Teacher of Music	24 years 28 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 6 years	Presbyterian Church Ashburton	92/652		19 January 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
715	5 February 1892	William Gibbs Pearce Edith Hastings Cambridge	William Gibbs Pearce Edith Hastings Cambridge 💍 1892/1844	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	29 years 23 years	Allenton Ashburton	10 years 22 years	Church of England Ashburton	92/963		5 February 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
716	5 February 1892	William McAuslin Mary Ann Bradford	William McAuslin Mary Ann Bradford 💍 1892/596	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Spinner Weaver	21 years 20 years	Allenton Allenton	5 years 10 years	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton	92/651	Thomas Bradford, Father	5 February 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
717	8 February 1892	Edwin Crum Margaret Seaton	Edwin Crum Margaret Sexton 💍 1892/586	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic Servant	30 years 19 years	Hampstead Hampstead	10 years 3 years	Private dwelling house of John Crum at Hampstead	92/650	Revd. James Cocker, Guardian	8 February 1892	Revd. James Cocker
718	16 February 1892	William Grigy Emily Hayman	William Grigg Emily Hayman 💍 1892/3807	Bachelor Spinster	Bible Christian Minister Schoolmistress	29 years 23 years	Willowby Willowby	3 days 10 years	Private dwelling house of Thomas Hayman at Willowby	92/569		16 February 1892	Revd. John Orchard
719	29 February 1892	Alexander Leslie McNeill Marie Louise Williams	Alexander Leslie McNeill Marie Louise Williams 💍 1892/3907	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	32 years 19 years	Springburn Lismore	10 years 2 weeks	Private Dwelling house of Thomas Paterson at Lismore	92/653	Sophia Paterson, Mother	29 February 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
720	1 March 1892	John Place Mary Holbrough	John Stace Mary Holbrough 💍 1892/1842	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 years 30 years	Ashburton Allenton	3 months 15 years	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	92/961		1 March 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
721	8 March 1892	Rees Jones Annie Emma Waller	Rees Jones Annie Emma Waller 💍 1892/1843	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	33 years 19 years	Ashburton Ashburton	28 years 1 year	St. Stephen's Church Ashburton	92/962	Henry Waller, Father	10 March 1892	Revd. E. A. Scott
722	9 March 1892	Isaac Lewis Jane Elder	Isaac Lewis Jane Elder 💍 1892/597	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Housemaid	22 years 23 years	Longbeach Ashburton	15 years 2 years	Registrars Office Ashburton	92/654		9 March 1892	J. Ward, Registrar
723	29 March 1892	Matthew Charles Clarke Isabella Martin	Matthew Charles Clarke Isabella Martin 💍 1892/1502	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 years 22 years	Dromore Dromore	4 years 7 years	Registrars Office Ashburton	92/1645		29 March 1892	J. Ward, 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).