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 250

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 December 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
355	5 September 1892	Thomas John Thompson Rosanna Fowler	Thomas John Thompson Rosanna Towler 💍 1892/4030	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	25 20	Feilding Feilding	2 years 19 years	Residence of J Fowler Feilding	92/2253	Frederick Fowler father	5 September 1892	W H Lyon
356	15 October 1892	William Henry Brooks Frances Jane Cloke	William Henry Brooks Frances Jane Cloke 💍 1892/3166	Widower Widow	Farmer	45 30	Feilding Feilding	7 days 3 months	Registrars Office Feilding	92/3270		15 October 1892	the Registrar
357	2 November 1892	Joseph Johnson Eliza Ann Bragg	Joseph Johnson Eliza Ann Bragg 💍 1892/3160	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	47 35	Palmerston North Feilding	16 months 3 days	Anglican Church Feilding	92/3264		2 November 1892	A Hermon
358	25 November 1892	Frederick Eugene Pickering Helena Agnes Beattie	Frederick Eugene Pickering Helena Agnes Beattie 💍 1892/3161	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 23	Feilding Feilding	18 months 14 years	Anglican Church Feilding	92/3265		25 November 1892	A Hermon
359	28 November 1892	Walter Jameson Annie Bartholomew	Walter Jamieson Annie Bartholomew 💍 1892/3162	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	43 36	Feilding Feilding	4 days 13 years	Residence of J Bartholomew Feilding	92/3266		28 November 1892	O M Murray
360	28 November 1892	William James Letford Mary Eliza Dalzell	William James Setford Mary Eliza Dalzell 💍 1892/3164	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 19	Feilding Feilding	10 months 8 months	Residence of H Murray Feilding	92/3268	H Murray	10 December 1892	H Murray
361	6 December 1892	Henry Peach Jane Anderson Thomson	Henry Reach Jane Anderson Thomson 💍 1892/3163	Widower Spinster	Labourer	47 45	Feilding Feilding	2 years 5 years	Residence of P Thomson Feilding	92/3267		6 December 1892	O M Murray
362	28 December 1892	Douglas Gordon Forlong Mary Humphrey	Douglas Gordon Forlong Mary Humphrey 💍 1892/3165	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Anakins	23 19	Feilding Makino	3 days 12 years	Residence of John Humphrey Makino	92/3269	John Humphrey father	28 December 1892	W H Lyon
363	30 December 1892	Albert Bennett Glorvina Diana Moore	Albert Bennett Glorvina Diana Moore 💍 1893/843	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 21	Feilding Kiwitea	5 days 9 years	Anglican Church Kiwitea	93/258		30 December 1892	A Hermon

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).