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 685

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 September 1882

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
14	5 July 1882	Harry Hopkinson Elizabeth Jane Gibbons	Harry Hopkinson Elizabeth Jane Gibbons 💍 1892/2099	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	27 24	Marton Marton	4 days 20 years	St. Stephens Church Marton	92/2234		5 July 1882	A. Towgood
18	21 July 1882	Kenneth Bayne Charlotte Mabel Rayner	Kenneth Bayne Charlotte Mabel Rayner 💍 1892/2677	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 21	Hunterville Hunterville	5 months 3 weeks	Dept. Registrar's Office Marton	92/2911		21 July 1882	W. J. Chaney
19	1 August 1882	Joseph Sutherland Munro Elizabeth Jane Johnson	Joseph Sutherton Munro Elizabeth Jane Johnston 💍 1892/2105	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 23	Marton Rata	3 months 4 months	M.C.M. Pedders Residence Rata	92/2240		1 August 1882	D. Gordon
20	2 August 1882	Job Harrison Alice Mary Jane Smith	Job Harrison Alice Mary Smith 💍 1892/2100	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 19	Marton Marton	10 years 16 years	St. Stephens Church Marton	92/2235	Matilda Signal, mother	2 August 1882	A. Towgood
21	5 August 1882	William George Ashworth Margaret Taylor Wilson	William George Ashworth Margaret Taylor Wilson 💍 1892/2098	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 25	Hunterville Hunterville	4 days 4 years	Presbyterian Church Hunterville	92/2233		5 August 1882	A. Barclay
22	9 August 1882	John Wicks Sarah Ann Wicks	John Wicks Sarah Ann Wicks 💍 1892/2103	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 18	Bulls Bulls	4 days 17 years	English Church Bulls	92/2238	Ewin Wicks, father	9 August 1882	A. Innes-Jones
23	27 August 1882	William John Bennet Smith Annette Elizabeth Signal	William John Bennet Smith Annette Elizabeth Signal 💍 1892/2101	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Bulls Porewa	15 years 19 years	M. H. Signal's Residence Porewa	92/2236	Henry Signal, father	27 August 1882	Y. Fee
24	5 September 1882	John Hanson Matilda Elizabeth Goebel	John Hansen Matilda Elisabeth Goebel 💍 1892/2107	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 19	Crofton Marton	9 years 19 years	M. G. Goebel's Residence Marton	92/2244	Gottlieb Goebel, father	5 September 1882	C. C. W. Meyer
25	5 September 1882	Joseph Dynes Mary Anne Elward	Joseph Dynes Mary Anne Elward 💍 1892/2678	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Hunterville Hunterville	6 months 4 months	Registrar's Office Marton	92/2912		5 September 1882	W. J. Chaney
26	6 September 1882	Henry Christ. Fredk. Lampfor Bessie Mayhew	Henry Charles Frederick Lampp Bessie Mayhew 💍 1892/2102	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 22	Marton Marton	6 days 10 years	Wesleyan Church Marton	92/2237		6 September 1882	Y. Fee
27	6 September 1882	Charles Parkinson Johan Johnston McDonald	Charles Parkinson Johan Johnston McDonald 💍 1892/2106	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-builder	38 31	Marton Marton	22 years 25 years	Presbyterian Church Marton	92/2241		6 September 1882	D. Gordon
28	6 September 1882	Joseph Warring Elizabeth Jane Ferguson	Joseph Warring Elizabeth Jane Ferguson 💍 1892/4028	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 23	Paraekaretu Turakina	21 years 2 years	M. E. D. Ferguson's house Turakina	92/2243		6 September 1882	D. Gordon
29	7 September 1882	William John Woolford Grace Rush	William John Woodford Grace Rush 💍 1892/4027	Divorced Spinster	Labourer	29 21	Hunterville Hunterville	4 years 3 weeks	M. E. A. Dalziell's Station House Hunterville	92/2242		7 September 1882	D. Gordon
30	26 September 1882	John Wilson Annie Morrison	John Wilson Annie Morrison 💍 1892/2679	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 33	Hunterville Hunterville	4 years 5 days	Registrar's Office Marton	92/2913		26 September 1882	W. J. Chaney

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).