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 232

District of Wellington 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
357	28 December 1892	John McAvenue Catherine Fil Panick	John McAvinue Catherine FitzPatrick 💍 1892/3185	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	Registrar's office, Wellington	92/3388		28 December 1892	W. E. Wyatt
358	28 December 1892	William Haywood Eliza Gilbert	William Hayward Ellen Gilbert 💍 1893/1171	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 35	Wellington Wellington	1 week 10 days	St. Mark's Church	93/378		28 December 1892	Revd. R. Coffey
359	28 December 1892	John Campbell Reily Sarah Edgar	John Campbell Reilly Sarah Edgar 💍 1892/3671	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	40 28	Wellington Wellington	10 days 4 months	St. John's Church	93/378		28 December 1892	Revd. J. Paterson
360	28 December 1892	Henry Tyrrell Eliza Jane Rossiter	Henry Tyrrell Eliza Jane Rossiter 💍 1893/1132	Widower Spinster	Waiter	34 29	Wellington Wellington	4 months 3 weeks	St. Peter's Church	93/417		28 December 1892	Revd. W. C. Waters
361	28 December 1892	John Sowerby Mary Ann Phillipps	John Sowerby Mary Ann Phillips 💍 1892/3113	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	House of Mr. Phillipps, Herald Street	92/3316		28 December 1892	Revd. W. Oliver
362	28 December 1892	Arthur Ernest Ellow Elizabeth Ann Thacker	Arthur Ernest Elton Elizabeth Anne Thacker 💍 1892/3186	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	92/3389		28 December 1892	W. E. Wyatt
363	28 December 1892	William Wilson Hills Catherine O'Brien	William Wilson Hills Catherine O'Brien 💍 1893/976	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	23 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/372	John O'Brien, Father	28 December 1892	Very Revd. F. D. Devoy
364	29 December 1892	James Alphonso Percy Martin Eleanor Jane Hutchings	James Alphonsus Percy Martin Eleanor Julia Hutchings 💍 1893/1016	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Miss Hutchings, Austin Street	93/406		29 December 1892	Revd. J. G. Chapman
365	29 December 1892	Herbert John Richardson Hewson Laura Louisa Smith	Herbert John Richard Hewson Laura Louise Smith 💍 1892/3230	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	21 19	Petone Petone	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	92/3338	John Smith, Father	29 December 1892	Revd. Joshua Jones
366	29 December 1892	Charles Edwin Smith Jane Elizabeth Townsend	Charles Edwin Smith Jane Elizabeth Townsend 💍 1892/3187	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	25 30	Happy Valley Wellington	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	92/3390		29 December 1892	W. E. Wyatt
367	30 December 1892	Thomas John Marshall Margaret Harrington	Thomas John Marshal Margaret Harrington 💍 1893/977	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/373		30 December 1892	Revd. W. Goggan
368	30 December 1892	William Hume Gordon Elizabeth Kilner	William Hume Gordon Elizabeth Kilner 💍 1893/1011	Widower Spinster	Clerk	60 42	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Bridegroom, Tasman Street	93/411		30 December 1892	Revd. J. K. Elliott
369	30 December 1892	George Cochrane Emily Carr	George Cochrane Emily Carr 💍 1892/3188	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	22 17	Ohariu Wellington	years years	Registrar's office, Wellington	92/3391	Mary Carr, Mother	30 December 1892	W. E. Wyatt
370	30 December 1892	Edwin James Plangle Mary McNaulty	Edwin James Playle Mary McNaulty 💍 1892/3890	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 9 months	House of Mr. Dickson, Adelaide Road	92/3940		30 December 1892	Revd. J. Paterson

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).