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 298

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 December 1892 Registrar St. H. James

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

14 October 1892

Edward Vickers
Maud Wright

Edward Vickers
Maud Wright
💍 1892/2993

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
18

Midhirst
Midhirst

8 years
10 years

In the residence of Edward Wright at Midhirst

92/3209

Edward Wright, father

14 October 1892

Rev. J. I. Jones, Wesleyan Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	14 October 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Vickers	Maud Wright
	💍 1892/2993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	8 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Edward Wright at Midhirst
Folio	92/3209
Consent	Edward Wright, father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. I. Jones, Wesleyan Methodist

20 October 1892

John Gotfried Rudeck
Margaret Emily Preston

John Gotfried Dudeck
Margaret Emily Preston
💍 1892/2972

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

39
19

Eltham
Eltham

3 years
10 years

In the office of the Registrar at Stratford

92/3212

James Preston, father

20 October 1892

St. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	20
Date of Notice	20 October 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gotfried Rudeck	Margaret Emily Preston
BDM Match (98%)	John Gotfried Dudeck	Margaret Emily Preston
	💍 1892/2972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	39	19
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	92/3212
Consent	James Preston, father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1892
Officiating Minister	St. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

3 November 1892

Edwin Albert Herbert Herman
Ellen Foster

Edwin Albert Herbert Herman
Ellen Foster
💍 1892/2973

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

25
22

Midhirst
Midhirst

7 months
7 months

The office of the Registrar at Stratford

92/3213

3 November 1892

St. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

No	21
Date of Notice	3 November 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Albert Herbert Herman	Ellen Foster
	💍 1892/2973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar at Stratford
Folio	92/3213
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1892
Officiating Minister	St. H. James, Registrar, Stratford

8 November 1892

William Henry Gilbert Spurdie
Eliza Belsham

William Henry Gilbert Spurdle
Eliza Belsham
💍 1892/2975

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Dressmaker

24
27

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
3 years

In the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Burgess at Stratford

92/3215

8 November 1892

Rev. James Glover, Primitive Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	8 November 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Gilbert Spurdie	Eliza Belsham
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Gilbert Spurdle	Eliza Belsham
	💍 1892/2975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Dressmaker
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Burgess at Stratford
Folio	92/3215
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Glover, Primitive Methodist

9 November 1892

William Howard Phipps
Mary Vercoe Hooker

William Howard Phipps
Mary Vercoe Hooker
💍 1892/2992

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
32

Ngaire
Ngaire

10 months
2 months

At Holy Trinity Church at Stratford

92/3208

9 November 1892

Rev. Alexr. English, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	9 November 1892
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howard Phipps	Mary Vercoe Hooker
	💍 1892/2992
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Ngaire
Length of Residence	10 months	2 months
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church at Stratford
Folio	92/3208
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1892
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexr. English, Church of England

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).