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 523

District of TIMARU 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
34	6 July 1892	Henry Stowell Louisa Collins	Henry Stowell Louisa Collins 💍 1892/2521	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	45 32	St Andrews St Andrews	15 years 12 years	residence of Mr Henry Stowell. St Andrews	92/2639		6 July 1892	Rev. Laurence Carsley Braddy. Church of England Minister.
35	11 July 1892	Charles Overton Smith Mary Ellen Mee	Charles Overton Smith Mary Ellen Mee 💍 1892/2532	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial traveller	33 25	Timaru Timaru	3 days 23 years	St Mary's Episcopalian Church, Timaru	92/2644		11 July 1892	Venerable Archdeacon Henry William Harper. Church of England Minister
36	12 July 1892	Phillippe Mangen Amelia Jane De Tunchy		Bachelor Spinster	Stone mason	31 18	Salisbury Salisbury	2 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church	92/2648	No person in Colony authorised to give consent	12 July 1892	Rev. William James Williams. Wesleyan Minister
37	23 July 1892	William Sugrue Bridget Moore	Williams Sugrue Bridget Moore 💍 1892/2528	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 23	Awahou Levels Plains	7 days 23 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Pleasant Point	92/2640		23 July 1892	Rev. Louis Fauvel. Roman Catholic Clergyman.
38	28 July 1892	Thomas Henry Taplin Constance Lena Codd	Thomas Henry Taplin Constance Lena Dodd 💍 1892/2530	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	24 24	Timaru Timaru	20 years 3 months	residence of Mr John Taplin - Butler Street, Timaru	92/2642		28 July 1892	Rev. William J. Woodward. Primitive Methodist Minister.
39	11 August 1892	Matthew Henry Smale Ada Eveline McKenzie	Matthew Henry Smale Ada Eveline McKenzie 💍 1892/2531	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 24	Timaru Timaru	14 years 5 years	Residence of Mrs McKenzie. Rose Street, Timaru	92/2643		11 August 1892	Rev. William J. Woodward. Primitive Methodist Minister.
40	13 August 1892	Robert Watson Helen Jackson	Robert Watson Helen Jackson 💍 1892/2515	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	24 23	Timaru Timaru	4 days 4 days	Registrar's office, Timaru	92/2651		13 August 1892	Thomas Howley, Registrar of Marriages, Timaru.
41	15 August 1892	Patrick Moran Catherine Moore	Patrick Moran Catherine Moore 💍 1892/2529	Bachelor Spinster	Hammer	30 20	Awahou Levels Plains	4 days 20 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Pleasant Point	92/2641		15 August 1892	Rev. Louis Fauvel. Roman Catholic Clergyman.
42	24 August 1892	Walcot John Wood Amy Elizabeth Cook	Walet John Wood Amy Elizabeth Cook 💍 1892/2533	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	28 22	Timaru Timaru	3 days 11 years	St Mary's Episcopalian Church, Timaru	92/2645		24 August 1892	Venerable Archdeacon Henry William Harper. Church of England Minister.
43	29 August 1892	James Albert Beck Elizabeth Jane Marten	James Albert Beck Elizabeth Jane Marten 💍 1892/2513	Widower Spinster	Commission agent	58 50	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	residence of Mrs Beggs. Church Street, Timaru	92/2649		29 August 1892	Rev. William B. Marten. Wesleyan Minister.

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).