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 743

District of Drury 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
16	2 July 1892	James Frederick Ludlow Caroline Eliza Reid	James Frederick Carslan Eliza Reid 💍 1892/2046	Widower Spinster	Surgeon	41 23	Bombay Papakura Valley	1 year 23 years	Christ Church, Papakura Valley	92/2132		2 July 1892	Rev. R. I. M. Farland, Church of England
17	26 July 1892	Samuel Stephen Smith Mary Jane Carter	Samuel Stephen Smith Mary Jane Carter 💍 1892/2042	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 22	Razor Back Bombay	27 years 19 years	House of Jacob Carter	92/2128		26 July 1892	Rev. T. G. Carr, Wesleyan Minister
18	6 August 1892	Robert Robertson Margaret Ann Gibb	Robert Robertson Margaret Ann Gibb 💍 1892/2043	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 16	Pokeno Pokeno	4 days 9 years	House of John Gibb	92/2129	John Gibb, Father	6 August 1892	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister
19	8 August 1892	Alfred Gillbee Fallwell Johanna Mary Frome	Alfred Gillbee Fallwell Johanna Mary Norrie 💍 1892/2045	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	27 27	Papakura Papakura	4 years 27 years	Christ Church, Papakura	92/2131		8 August 1892	Rev. H. S. Boyes, Church of England
20	15 August 1892	Andrew Jackson Emma McLennon	Andrew Dickson Emma McLennan 💍 1892/2044	Bachelor Spinster	Orchardist	29 29	Drury Papakura	4 days 29 years	House of Duncan Mc Lennon	92/2130		15 August 1892	Rev. Thos. Horne, Presbyterian Minister
21	20 August 1892	David Austin Blake Elizabeth Hyland	David Austin Blake Elizabeth Hyland 💍 1892/2024	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	32 23	Pukekoe Pukekoe	7 years 20 years	House of Isaac Hyland	92/2134		20 August 1892	Rev. W. T. Findlay, Presbyterian Minister
22	26 August 1892	Alfred Henry Dukeson Julia Kelly	Alfred Henry Dukeson Julia Kelly 💍 1892/2025	Widower Widow	Butcher	62 45	Papakura Papakura	20 years 8 months	Office of the Registrar, Drury district	92/2135		26 August 1892	Sam Walker, Registrar
23	24 September 1892	Horace Stephen Waterlow King Isabella Henderson	Horace Stephen Waterlow King Isabella Henderson 💍 1892/2023	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Papakura Parish Papakura Parish	3 years 4 years	House of Colin Henderson	92/2133	Colin Henderson, Father	24 September 1892	Rev. H. S. Boyes, Church 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).