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 617

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 July 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
39	4 July 1892	William Brydon Amelia Ellen Shaw	William Brydon Amelia Ellen Shaw 💍 1892/1732	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 24	Renwicktown Renwicktown	3 years 24 years	The Presbyterian Church, Renwicktown	92/2421		1892	Rev. W. O. Robb
40	5 July 1892	John Edward Nelson Carter Maria Steward		Widower Widow	Carter Leaseholder	44 40	Blenheim Blenheim	About 20 years About 20 years	The home of Patrick O'Sullivan, Blenheim	92/2425		5 July 1892	Rev. W. B. Marten
41	6 July 1892	Godfrey McNabb Frances Robinson	Godfrey McNabb Frances Robinson 💍 1892/2312	Bachelor Widow	Contractor Leaseholder	22 36	Marshlands, Tua Marina Marshlands, Tua Marina	11 months 8 years	The home of William Robinson, Springlands	92/2430		6 July 1892	Venble T. S. Grace
42	7 July 1892	Charles John Britchell Emma Hind Carr	Charles John Mitchell Emma Hind Carr 💍 1892/2310	Bachelor Spinster	Bluesmith Shop assistant	34 25	Maxwelltown, Blenheim Main St Blenheim	About 18 years 11 years	The house of W. W. Carr, Main St Blenheim	92/2428		7 July 1892	Rev. W. O. Robb
43	11 July 1892	Leonard James Holdaway Helena Holdaway	Leonard James Holdaway Helena Holdaway 💍 1892/2311	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	28 24	Springlands, Blenheim Renwick Road, Blenheim	3 years 27 years	The Wesleyan Church, Blenheim	92/2429		11 July 1892	Rev. W. B. Marten
44	14 July 1892	Herbert Oswald Berry Lucy Hyde	Herbert Oswald Berry Amy Hyde 💍 1892/2316	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter Domestic Servant	20 19	Springlands Grove Road, Blenheim	19 years 19 years	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim	92/2434	Ellen Berry, mother; William Henry Hyde, father	14 July 1892	J. F. W. White, Registrar
45	15 July 1892	Thomas O'Sullivan Bridget Clifford	Thomas O'Sullivan Bridget Clifford 💍 1892/2292	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer School Teacher	32 29	Main Road, Blenheim Main Road, Blenheim	9 years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim	92/2426		16 July 1892	Rev. S. P. Kerrigan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).