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 1057

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 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
10	12 April 1892	James Bowman Mowbray Catherine Adams	James Bowman Mowbray Catherine Adams 💍 1892/94	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	32 24	Masterton Masterton	2 years 1 year	House of William Adams, Opaki road Masterton	92/1331		12 April 1892	Rev Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister
11	21 April 1892	George Lonagan Kate Byron	George Lonergan Kate Byron 💍 1892/92	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 29	Masterton Masterton	3 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	92/1329		21 April 1892	Rev John O'Meara Roman Catholic Priest
12	5 May 1892	James Coleman Harriett Ellen Emma Martin	James Coleman Harriett Emma Ellen Martin 💍 1892/1160	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	38 30	Masterton Masterton	3 days 4 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	92/1337		5 May 1892	John Bagge Registrar
13	12 May 1892	Henry James Deadman Eulalie Mary Blade	Henry James Deadman Eulalia Mary Blade 💍 1892/1151	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 20	Masterton Dryesdon	12 months 7 years	House of Mr Blade	92/1333	R. B. Blade Father	12 May 1892	Wesleyan Minister
14	14 May 1892	Arthur Tyler Jessie Isabel Williams	Arthur Tyler Jessie Isabel Williams 💍 1892/1161	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	30 21	Masterton Masterton	4 years 15 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages	92/1338		14 May 1892	John Bagge Registrar
15	23 May 1892	George Emmanuel Manning Margaret Thompson Wishart	George Emanuel Manning Margaret Thompson Wishart 💍 1892/1140	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	19 18	Opaki Opaki	12 years 12 months	House of Mr Manning	92/1332	David Wishart Father	23 May 1892	Rev Robert Wood Presbyterian Minister
16	25 May 1892	Wilhelm Johan Hobrow Mary Ransome	Wilhelm Johan Kobrow Mary Ransome 💍 1892/1157	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Nurse	34 37	Masterton Masterton	6 months 8 years	House of Mrs Mary Ransome	92/1334		25 May 1892	Rev John Dukes Wesleyan Minister
17	6 June 1892	Walter James Hawley Sarah Elizabeth Brewer	Walter Ernest Stanley Sarah Elizabeth Barrer 💍 1892/1159	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Milliner	35 24	Masterton Masterton	14 days 3 months	Church of England	92/1336		6 June 1892	Rev W. E. Paige Church of England Minister
18	10 June 1892	Joseph Halbert Kennedy Violet Stacey	Joseph Hubert Kennedy Violet Stacey 💍 1892/1158	Bachelor Spinster	Actor Actress	28 28	Masterton Masterton	5 days 5 days	Church of England	92/1335		10 June 1892	Rev W. E. Paige Church of England Minister
19	14 June 1892	Angus James McLeod Mary Louisa Boutley	Angus James McLeod Mary Louisa Bentley 💍 1892/1162	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 18	Opaki Masterton	5 years 8 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages	92/1339	T. W. Boutley Father	14 June 1892	John Bagge 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).