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 1093

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 May 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
19	31 March 1892	Alexander Robb Eliza Jane Rowe	Alexander Robb Eliza Jane Rowe 💍 1892/3855	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 18	Wanganui Wanganui	24 years 3 months	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	92/1158	Person in the Colony having authority to give consent	19 April 1892	Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui
20	1 April 1892	James Guilford Emma Elizabeth Johanna Schwass	James Guilford Emma Elizabeth Johannah Schwass 💍 1892/1006	Widower Spinster	Farmer	50 25	Eastown Eastown	6 years 6 weeks	In the residence of Mr James Guilford, Eastown	92/1152		1 April 1892	H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan
21	5 April 1892	Alfred John Marshall Kate Dobson	Alfred John Marshall Kate Dobson 💍 1892/1012	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 22	Wanganui Castle Cliff	7 years 4 months	In the office of the Regr of Marriages, Wanganui	92/1157		5 April 1892	Regr of Marriages, Wanganui
22	5 April 1892	Hermann Carl Böttcher Alivine Steinke	Hermann Carl Bottcher Alwine Steinke 💍 1892/1009	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 22	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 5 years	In the Criterion Hotel, Wanganui	92/1154		5 April 1892	C. C. W. Meyer, Lutheran
23	8 April 1892	Harry Damell Ada Frances Abbiss	Harry Daniell Ada Francis Abbins 💍 1892/1008	Bachelor Spinster	Station master	24 22	Stratford Fordell	12 months 8 years	In the residence of Joseph Abbiss, Fordell	92/1153		8 April 1892	R. Hermon, Church of England
24	11 April 1892	James Laird Fanny Ann Brown	James Laird Fanny Ann Brown 💍 1892/1060	Bachelor Spinster	Nurseyman	27 20	Wanganui Wanganui	24 years 20 years	In the residence of Mr James Brown, Wilson St, Wanganui	92/1163	James Brown, father	11 April 1892	Jas. Treadwell, Presbyterian
25	30 April 1892	Robert Manne Harriet Annie Titter	Robert Mann Harriet Annie Titter 💍 1892/4021	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 20	Wanganui Wanganui	16 months 10 months	In the office of the Regr of Marriages, Wanganui	92/1159	John Titter, father	30 April 1892	Regr of Marriages, Wanganui
26	9 May 1892	Joseph George Thompson Clara Pinyon	Joseph George Thompson Clara Pinyon 💍 1892/1054	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 25	Okoia Wanganui	6 years 35 years	In the house of Mr P. Pinyon, Guyton St.	92/1161		9 May 1892	C. H. Garland, Wesleyan
27	13 May 1892	James Shore Mary Ann Willcox	James Shore Mary Ann Willcox 💍 1892/1043	Bachelor Spinster	Bush faller	23 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the office of the Regr of Marriages, Wanganui	92/1160		13 May 1892	Regr of Marriages, Wanganui

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).