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 973

District of Rangiora 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
676	2 April 1892	Cunningham Hosier Reeces Eliza Mary Ward Bell	Cunningham Hosier Reeves Eliza Mary Ward Bell 💍 1892/1371	Bachelor Spinster	Light Keeper Domestic	29 22	Rangiora Rangiora	8 days 22 years	Church of England, Rangiora	92/1485		2 April 1892	Rev. W. E. Gillam
677	30 April 1892	James Eustace Annie Hanrahan Hauhorn [Hanrahan added in pencil]	James Eustace Annie Hanrahan 💍 1892/1364	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	33 30	Whiterock Loburn Rangiora	8 years 6 years	Catholic Church, Rangiora	92/1480		30 April 1892	Rev. D. P. O'Connor
678	5 May 1892	Hugh Archibald Wilson Nellie Swingy	Hugh Archibald Wilson Nellie Guiney 💍 1892/1345	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	23 26	Ashley Ashley	23 years 15 years	Residence of Mr. Archibald Wilson, Ashley	92/1478		5 May 1892	Rev. R. Tout
679	9 May 1892	Thomas Marroll Ellen Joyce	Thomas O'Carroll Ellen Joyce 💍 1892/1368	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic	28 22	Rangiora Loburn	4 days 22 years	Catholic Church, Rangiora	92/1481		9 May 1892	Rev. D. P. O'Connor
680	13 May 1892	William Trother Margaret Jane Kinley	William Trotter Margaret Jane Kinley 💍 1892/3922	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer Domestic	31 25	Rangiora Rangiora	3 weeks 8 years	Residence of Mrs. Kinley, Rangiora	92/1487		13 May 1892	Rev. M. R. Monro
681	23 May 1892	John Carroll Catherine Fitzgibbon	John Carrall Catherine Fitzgibbons 💍 1892/3921	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	24 23	Rangiora North Loburn	8 years 23 years	Catholic Church, Loburn	92/1482		25 May 1892	Rev. D. P. O'Connor
682	26 May 1892	Thomas William Denton Susannah Elizabeth Todd	Thomas William Denton Susannah Elizabeth Todd 💍 1892/1372	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	25 24	Eyeton Southbrook	25 years 1 year	Church of England, Southbrook	92/1486		26 May 1892	Rev. W. E. Gillam
683	2 June 1892	James Calder Margaret Wells	James Calder Margaret Wells 💍 1892/1373	Widower Spinster	Grocer Housekeeper	43 31	Rangiora Rangiora	2 years 1 year	Residence of Mr. J. Calder, Rangiora	92/1488		2 June 1892	Rev. M. R. Monro
684	7 June 1892	Charles McDaid Mary O'Donnell	Charles McDavitt Mary O'Donnell 💍 1892/1370	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Cook	28 24	Rangiora Rangiora	7 days 6 years	Catholic Church, Rangiora	92/1484		7 June 1892	Rev. D. P. O'Connor
685	15 June 1892	Charles Waters Agnes Sarah Billyard	Charles Waters Agnes Sarah Billyard 💍 1892/1353	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer not any	24 20	Ashley Ashley	11 years 3 years	Residence of Samuel Fletcher, Ashley	92/1479	Samuel Fletcher, uncle	15 June 1892	Rev. R. Tout

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).