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 609

District of Nelson 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
26	6 July 1892	John Harris Leonard Emma Jane Friend	John Harris Leonard Emma Jane Friend 💍 1892/2306	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Servant	24 21	Richmond Vandieman Street Nelson	2 years 1 year	Presbyterian Church	92/2447		6 July 1892	Revd James Hutton or Key
27	6 August 1892	Robert White Ellen Smith	Robert White Ellen Smith 💍 1892/2471 Robert Armiger Emma Smith 💍 1892/2790 Robert Smith Philadelpha Smith 💍 1892/3150 Robert Bell Jane Smith 💍 1892/3733	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Nil	30 17	Trafalgar Street Nelson Stoke	3 days 17 years	Residence of William Smith, Stoke	92/2452	William Smith, Father	6 August 1892	Revd John Crump, Wesleyan Church minister
28	22 August 1892	Matthew Hutchinson Amy Astle	Matthew Hutchinson Amy Astle 💍 1892/2460	Bachelor Spinster	Soapmaker Dressmaker	28 24	Washington Valley Nelson Vanguard Street Nelson	4 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church	92/2451		22 August 1892	Revd Francis Whitmore Isitt
29	26 August 1892	David Niven Scott Kate Mary Newton	David Nimmo Scott Kate Mary Newton 💍 1892/2305	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer School Teacher	26 28	Collingwood Street Nelson Cambria Street Nelson	10 months 28 years	All Saints' Church	92/2446		26 August 1892	Revd W. W. Challaton
30	26 August 1892	John Howell Rosella Pringle Nightingale	John Howell Rosetta Pringle Nightingale 💍 1892/2307	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	40 42	Brook Street Nelson Brook Street Nelson	5 years 5 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Nelson	92/2448		26 August 1892	Robert Watson, Registrar
31	17 September 1892	Alfred Andrew Malcolm Eliza Kidd	Alfred Andrew Malcolm Eliza Kidd 💍 1892/2308	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster Nil	25 26	Hope Hope	3 years 26 years	Registrar's Office	92/2449		17 September 1892	Robert Watson, Registrar
32	24 September 1892	George Thomas Caroline Riley	George Thomas Caroline Riley 💍 1892/2309	Bachelor Widow	Cab Proprietor Nil	31 29	Vanguard Street Nelson Collingwood Street Nelson	31 years 10 years	Residence of Mrs Caroline Riley (Collingwood Street Nelson)	92/2450		24 September 1892	Revd Francis Whitmore Isitt
33	27 September 1892	James O'Dwyer Jane Evans Thompson	James O'Dwyer Jane Evans Thompson 💍 1892/2304	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	50 45	Richmond Richmond	3 days 45 years	Catholic Meeting House	92/2445		27 September 1892	Revd William J. Mahoney

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).