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 753

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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
320	6 August 1892	William McQuoid Helen Orarick	William McQuoid Helen Harriet Smittingman 💍 1892/1961	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Onehunga Remuera	25 years 18 months	Church of St Sepulchre	92/2043	Frances Brown, mother of bride	6 August 1892	Revd B. I. Dudley, Ch of England
321	6 August 1892	James Brennan Mary McMahon	James Brennan Mary McMahon 💍 1892/1966	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	29 28	Onehunga Onehunga	4 years 8 years	The Church of The Assumption	92/2047		6 August 1892	Revd J. Paul, R. Catholic
322	8 August 1892	Arthur George Daw Alice Jane Taylor	Arthur George Daw Alice Jane Taylor 💍 1892/2090	Bachelor Spinster	Architect	33 23	Auckland Patea	1 week 3 months	Church of St Paul, Patea	92/2201		8 August 1892	Revd W. Kay, Ch of England
323	8 August 1892	Lewis Morris Frances Elizabeth Jaggar	Lewis Morris Frances Elizabeth Jaggar 💍 1892/1980	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	34 20	Auckland Auckland	3 years 30 years	Registrars Office	92/2112	Edwin Jaggar, father	8 August 1892	T. Owen Lord, Registrar
324	9 August 1892	John McLean Elizabeth Mary McGregor	John McLean Elizabeth Mary McGregor 💍 1892/1930	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 20	Napier Napier	34 years 30 years	Dwelling of Mr Christine Schmidt	92/2060	Donald McGregor, father	9 August 1892	Revd S. S. Monro, Presbyterian
325	9 August 1892	William Henry Cundall Emily Jane Makeham	William Henry Cundall Emily Jane Wakeham 💍 1892/1951	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	25 17	Eden Terrace Eden Terrace	25 years 7 years	Dwelling of Thomas Makeham, Victoria Avenue, Eden Terrace	92/2057	Thomas Makeham, father	10 August 1892	Revd J. Terry, P. Methodist
326	10 August 1892	John Lord Mansfield Amelie Isabel Lipscombe	John Lord Mansfield Amelia Isabel Lipscombe 💍 1892/1974	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	27 20	Waitara Ponsonby	2 years 20 years	All Saints Church	92/2035		10 August 1892	Revd W. Calder, Ch of England
327	11 August 1892	Raphael King Bertha Mills	Samuel King Bertha Hills 💍 1892/2006	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	25 21	Epsom Onehunga	3 years 3 years	Church of St Peter	92/2089		11 August 1892	Revd H. P. Raikes, Ch of England

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).