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 535

District of Ashburton 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
748	2 July 1892	John Dobbin Margaret Ann Shaw	John Dobbin Margaret Ann Shaw 💍 1892/3029	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 years 19 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 13 years	Private Dwelling of Alexander Shaw at Ashburton	92/2614	Alexander Shaw, father	2 July 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
749	5 July 1892	Daniel McCormick Mary Ann Buckley	Daniel McCormick Mary Anne Buckly 💍 1892/3022	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 years 23 years	Winchmore Greenstreet	8 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	92/2625		5 July 1892	Revd. P. Chastagnon
750	7 July 1892	Thomas Buckner Emily Henrietta Whiting	Thomas Buckner Emily Henrietta Whiting 💍 1892/2499	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	38 years 23 years	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 15 months	Barracks of Salvation Army at Ashburton	92/2609		7 July 1892	Major Vince
751	7 July 1892	William Charles Ford Sarah Jane McKeage	William Charles Ford Sarah Jane McKeage 💍 1892/3020	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	27 years 23 years	Lowcliffe Lowcliffe	1 year 7 years	Private Dwellinghouse of James McKeage at Lowcliffe	92/2623		7 July 1892	Revd. Alexander Blake
752	12 July 1892	John Hale Lucy Jackson Hughes	John Hale Lucy Jackson Hughes 💍 1892/3036	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 years 18 years	Ashburton Ashburton	8 days 12 years	Presbyterian Church Ashburton	92/2615	Richard Jackson Hughes, father	12 July 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
753	18 July 1892	James Cocker Sarah Ann Hollis	James Cocker Sarah Ann Hollis 💍 1892/3018	Bachelor Spinster	Primitive Methodist Minister	30 years 32 years	Ashburton Ashburton	About 1 year 3 days	Primitive Methodist Church at Ashburton	92/2613		18 July 1892	Revd. James Cocker, John Dawson
754	23 July 1892	Thomas Prior Lily Cox	Thomas Prior Sily Cox 💍 1892/3041	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	36 years 23 years	Waterton Waterton	10 years 2 1/2 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	92/2620		23 July 1892	Ward, Registrar
755	26 July 1892	Richard Dutty Annie Kerr	Richard Tutty Annie Kerr 💍 1892/3037 Austin Gilbert Durbin Annie Kerr 💍 1892/2806	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	21 years 19 years	Ashburton Ashburton	16 years 8 years	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton	92/2616		26 July 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
756	1 August 1892	Peter Husband Elizabeth Heasley	Peter Husband Elizabeth Hasley 💍 1892/2341	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 years 20 years	Eiffelton Willowby	23 years 15 years	Private dwellinghouse of James Heasley at Willowby	92/2940	James Heasley, father	3 August 1892	Revd. Thomas Darley
757	2 August 1892	George James Husband Mary Jane Prior	George James Husband Mary Jane Prior 💍 1892/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 years 24 years	Willowby Hinds	22 years 3 years	Private Dwellinghouse of Mr John Leahy at Willowby	92/2939		2 August 1892	Revd. Thomas Darley
758	9 August 1892	Charles Christian Keller Ellen Hoyd	Charles Corantian Kellec Ellen Floyd 💍 1892/2497	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	59 years 24 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church Ashburton	92/2607		9 August 1892	Revd. P. Chastagnon

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).