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 843

District of Gore 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
7	16 April 1892	David Lawson Fowler Maggie Morrison	David Fowler Maggie Morrison 💍 1892/1814	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 29	Gore Gore	4 months 4 years	Residence of William Cumming, Waikaka Valley	92/1854		16 April 1892	Rev. Peter Ramsay, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
8	19 April 1892	George Groves Nelly Sullivan	George Groves Nelly Sullivan 💍 1892/1820	Widower Spinster	Store Keeper	38 25	Gore Gore	3 days 10 years	R.C. Church at Gordon	92/1872		19 April 1892	Rev. W. Newport, R.C. Clergyman, Gore
9	21 April 1892	Arthur Horrell Isabella McAllan	Arthur Horrell Isabella McAllan 💍 1892/1819	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Gore Otama	6 days 12 years	Registrar's Office at Gore	92/1871	William McAllan, Father of Isabella McAllan	21 April 1892	Theodor King, The Registrar, Gore
10	21 April 1892	Soren Hansen Jane Thompson	Soren Hansen Jane Thompson 💍 1892/1817	Widower Widow	Blacksmith	43 40	Gore Gore	11 years 11 months	Residence of Mrs. Soren Hansen, Gore	92/1867		21 April 1892	Rev. Chris. Abernethy, Wesleyan Clergyman, Gore
11	2 May 1892	Edward Parsons Bella Preston	Edward Parsons Bella Preston 💍 1892/1815	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 21	Gore Gore	3 days 5 days	Residence of Thomas Sherbourn at Gore East	92/1865		2 May 1892	Rev. J.A. Asher, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
12	30 May 1892	Henry Taylor Bain Sarah Johanna Bartlett	Henry Taylor Bain Sarah Johanna Bartlett 💍 1892/1818	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 26	Gore Gore	3 years 5 days	Town Hall, Gore	92/1870		30 May 1892	E. Rolfe, Salvation Army, Gore
13	30 May 1892	James Sinclair Calder Mary Ann North	James Sinclair Calder Mary Ann North 💍 1892/1816	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	24 24	Gore Gore	10 years 2 years	Residence of Mr. Frank McKay at Gore East	92/1866		30 May 1892	Rev. J.A. Asher, Presbyterian Clergyman, Gore
14	31 May 1892	Patrick Lawrence Healey Rosena Courtney	Patrick Lawrence Healey Rosena Courtney 💍 1892/2687	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Gore Gore	3 days 3 days	R.C. Church at Gore East	92/2902		31 May 1892	Rev. James Coffey, R.C. Clergyman, Gore

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).