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 919

District of Temuka 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
3	1 April 1892	James Morrison Sarah Burton Grainger	James Morrison Sarah Burton Grainger 💍 1892/1529	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 22	Temuka Rangitata Island	2 years 10 years	Residence Henry Grainger Rangitata	92/1670		1 April 1892	Rev John Dellow Wesleyan
4	6 April 1892	George Cooling Mary Aitken	George Cooling Mary Aitken 💍 1892/1519	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	25 21	Opihi Opihi	4 days 21 years	Residence Andrew Aitken Opihi	92/1662		6 April 1892	Rev Joseph White Presbyterian
5	11 April 1892	Alfred Colville Emily Caroline Wyatt	Alfred Colville Emily Caroline Wyatt 💍 1892/1521	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 22	Temuka Temuka	6 months 1 year	Registrars Office Temuka	92/1664		11 April 1892	Reg Marriages Temuka
6	11 April 1892	James Elder Agnes McCallum	James Elder Agnes McCallum 💍 1892/1531	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	23 25	Temuka Temuka	3 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church Temuka	92/1672		11 April 1892	Rev John Dellow Wesleyan
7	13 April 1892	Henry Smallridge Isabella Holmes	Henry Smallridge Isabella Holmes 💍 1892/1530	Widower Widow	Woolsorter	35 28	Temuka Temuka	5 years 3 years	Residence Henry Smallridge Temuka	92/1671		13 April 1892	Rev John Dellow Wesleyan
8	16 April 1892	Eugene Egan Mary Elkin	Eugene Egan Mary Elkis 💍 1892/1522	Bachelor Spinster	Policeman	38 28	Temuka Temuka	2 years 2 years	St Josephs Church	92/1665		16 April 1892	Rev L Faure Catholic
9	30 April 1892	David Swaney Lucy Bishop	David Swany Lucy Bishop 💍 1892/1525	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 22	Temuka Temuka	6 years 2 years	Presbyterian Manse	92/1667		30 April 1892	Rev John Dickson Presbyterian
10	9 May 1892	George Blanchard Woodhead Eliza Ellen Longson	George Blanchard Woodhead Eliza Ellen Longson 💍 1892/2676	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	47 40	Temuka Temuka	15 years 15 years	Residence John Cooper Temuka	92/2901		9 May 1892	Rev Geo Barclay Presbyterian
11	23 May 1892	Charles Prattley Margaret Cumming	Thomas James Higgins Margaret Cumming 💍 1892/2465	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	22 17	Temuka Temuka	10 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church	92/1668		23 May 1892	Rev John Dickson Presbyterian
12	23 May 1892	George Frederick Walker Kate Woodley	George Frederick Walker Kate Woodley 💍 1892/1520	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Temuka Temuka	10 years 5 years	St Saviours Church	92/1663	Caleb Woodley (Father)	23 May 1892	Rev T A Hamilton Church of England
13	1 June 1892	William Angland Julia Barrett	William Angland Julia Barrett 💍 1892/1524	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Temuka Temuka	5 years 5 years	St Josephs Church	92/1666		1 June 1892	Rev L Faure Catholic
14	22 June 1892	Thorne Joseph Burbrough Grace May Anderson	Thomas Joseph Burborough Grace May Anderson 💍 1892/1527	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Temuka Temuka	3 days 12 months	Presbyterian Church	92/1669		22 June 1892	Rev John Dickson Presbyterian

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).