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 939

District of Lyttelton 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
11	8 April 1892	Robert Georg Buchanan Susan Elizabeth Hack	Robert George Buchanan Susan Elizabeth Hack 💍 1892/1477	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 years 26 years	Lyttelton Lyttelton	25 years 1 month	Office of Registrar	92/1619	8 April 1892	William Shanaghan, Registrar
12	13 April 1892	Francis Dennis Mary Ellen Teed	Francis Dennis Mary Ellen Teed 💍 1892/1474	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	32 years 22 years	Port Levy Port Levy	2 years 10 years	St Pauls Akaroa, Church Port Levy	92/1616	13 April 1892	Rev H A Hamilton, Anglican Minister
13	14 April 1892	Julius James Barker Mary Dodd	Willie James Barker Mary Dodd 💍 1892/1342	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 years 27 years	Lyttelton Waikara	3 months 15 years	Home of Margaret Dodd, Waikara	92/1475	14 April 1892	Rev Campbell, Presbyterian Minister
14	16 April 1892	John Francis McCalman Margaret Jane Driscoll	John Francis McCalman Margaret Jane Driscoll 💍 1892/1475	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee	23 years 21 years	Lyttelton Lyttelton	7 months 18 years	St Josephs Church Lyttelton	92/1617	16 April 1892	Rev W B Parton, Roman Catholic Minister
15	21 April 1892	Robert Anderson Kate Bowery Bradley	Robert Anderson Kate Bowery Bradley 💍 1892/4013	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 years 33 years	Charteris Bay Charteris Bay	28 years 33 years	Holy Trinity Church Lyttelton	92/1614	21 April 1892	Rev E Coates, Anglican Minister
16	5 May 1892	Richard Thomas Norris Clara Esther Schollar	Richard Thomas Norris Clare Esther Schollar 💍 1892/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 years 20 years	Lyttelton Lyttelton	22 years 8 years	House of William James Schollar, Lyttelton	92/1610	5 May 1892	Rev H Linsley, Wesleyan Minister
17	21 May 1892	Charles Alfred Bryant Sarah Ann Risely	Charles Alfred Bryant Sarah Ann Risely 💍 1892/1471	Widower Spinster	Labourer	48 years 29 years	Lyttelton Lyttelton	2 years 10 months	House of Charles Alfred Bryant, Lyttelton	92/1611	21 May 1892	Rev H Linsley, Wesleyan Minister
18	23 May 1892	Frederick Blogg Catherine Gilmore	Frederick Blogg Catherine Gilmore 💍 1892/1688	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	28 years 22 years	Lyttelton Christchurch	4 years 14 days	House of Rev Elmslie, Christchurch	92/1993	23 May 1892	Rev J Elmslie, Presbyterian Minister
19	26 May 1892	Oscar Johanson Ada Norris	Oscar Johanson Ada Norris 💍 1892/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	36 years 27 years	Lyttelton Lyttelton	2 years 20 years	House of Richard Norris, Lyttelton	92/1612	26 May 1892	Rev H Linsley, Wesleyan Minister

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).