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 677

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1892 Registrar Robert North Keeling

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

4 July 1892

Robert McNiece Incknight
Alice Constance Brewell

Robert McNiell McKnight
Alice Constance Powell
💍 1892/2081

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

29 years
26 years

Palmerston North
Wanganui

3 years
26 years

Christchurch

92/2216

4 July 1892

Revd L Tudor, Anglican minister, Wanganui

No	46
Date of Notice	4 July 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McNiece Incknight	Alice Constance Brewell
BDM Match (83%)	Robert McNiell McKnight	Alice Constance Powell
	💍 1892/2081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	29 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch
Folio	92/2216
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1892
Officiating Minister	Revd L Tudor, Anglican minister, Wanganui

7 July 1892

Henry Parnell Braamigan
Margaret Annie Braamigan

Henry Carnell
Margaret Annie Brannigan
💍 1892/2125

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31 years
22 years

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 weeks
1 week

At the office of the Registrar

92/2265

7 July 1892

Robert North Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	47
Date of Notice	7 July 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Parnell Braamigan	Margaret Annie Braamigan
BDM Match (72%)	Henry Carnell	Margaret Annie Brannigan
	💍 1892/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar
Folio	92/2265
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1892
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

16 July 1892

Henry Thompson
Lydia Lawrence

Henry Thompson
Lydia Lawrence
💍 1892/2126

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

49 years
26 years

Tokomaru
Tokomaru

4 years
4 years

At the Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

92/2266

16 July 1892

Robert North Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

No	48
Date of Notice	16 July 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thompson	Lydia Lawrence
	💍 1892/2126
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	49 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Tokomaru	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	92/2266
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1892
Officiating Minister	Robert North Keeling, Registrar, Palmerston North

18 July 1892

Robert Currie
Janet Stewart
formerly Macfarlane

Robert Currie
Janet Stewart
💍 1892/2124

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

29 years
31 years

Ashurst
Bunnythorpe

5 years
5 years

At the house of Duncan Matheson, Bunnythorpe

92/2264

18 July 1892

Revd Wm Thomson, Presbyterian Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	18 July 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Currie	Janet Stewart formerly Macfarlane
	💍 1892/2124
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	29 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Ashurst	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Duncan Matheson, Bunnythorpe
Folio	92/2264
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1892
Officiating Minister	Revd Wm Thomson, Presbyterian Minister

20 July 1892

Thomas George Senken
Edith Eliza Parkes
formerly Palmer

Thomas George Sempken
Edith Eliza Parkes
💍 1892/2120

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

58 years
55 years

Rangitikei Road, Palmerston N.
Palmerston N.

4 years
12 years

At the residence of Mr & Mrs Parker, Park Road, Palmerston N.

92/2260

20 July 1892

Revd W Hall, Wesleyan minister, Palmerston N.

No	50
Date of Notice	20 July 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George Senken	Edith Eliza Parkes formerly Palmer
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas George Sempken	Edith Eliza Parkes
	💍 1892/2120
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	58 years	55 years
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei Road, Palmerston N.	Palmerston N.
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr & Mrs Parker, Park Road, Palmerston N.
Folio	92/2260
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1892
Officiating Minister	Revd W Hall, Wesleyan minister, Palmerston N.

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 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).