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 126

District of Ashburton 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
771	1 October 1892	James Marsden Bertha Taylor	James Marsden Bertha Taylor 💍 1892/3487	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Ashburton Trevorton	4 years 14 years	Private dwelling of James Taylor at Trevorton	92/3675		1 October 1892	Revd. James Cocker
772	14 October 1892	John Paget Ellen Moorley	John Paget Ellen Woolley 💍 1892/3484	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 21	Ashburton Hinds	4 years 5 years	Church of England, Windermere	92/3672		14 October 1892	Revd. Thomas Earley
773	12 October 1892	Joseph Price Sarah Jane Parish	Joseph Price Sarah Jane Parish 💍 1892/4048	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 19	Ashburton Willowby	17 years 6 years	Wesleyan Church, Willowby	92/3662	Richard Pick Parish, father	12 October 1892	Revd. Joseph Gray
774	15 October 1892	Richard Marsden Lucy Ann Dalley	Richard Marsden Lucy Ann Dalley 💍 1892/3475	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 20	Ashburton Hampstead	3 years 12 years	Private Dwelling of Henry Dalley at Hampstead	92/3664	Henry Dalley, father	15 October 1892	Pastor J. M. Sawle
775	21 October 1892	James Scott Elizabeth Margaret Patton	James Scott Elizabeth Margaret Dalton 💍 1892/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	36 24	Woolston Wakanui	8 years 17 years	Wesleyan Church, Christchurch	92/3663		21 October 1892	Revd. E. Lawrey
776	21 October 1892	James Paterson Ellen Austen	James Paterson Ellen Austen 💍 1892/3477	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	27 24	Ashburton Mayfield	15 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	92/3666		21 October 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
777	1 November 1892	Matthew Lockhart Janet Leitch	Matthew Lockhard Janet Leitch 💍 1892/3478	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Tailoress	23 28	Ashburton Ashburton	8 years 16 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	92/3667		1 November 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie
778	23 November 1892	James Scott Letitia Marion Costerie	James Scott Letitia Marion Coskerie 💍 1892/3476	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	22 18	Viewfield Viewfield	1 year 2 years	Registrar's Office, Viewfield	92/3665	James Costerie, father	23 November 1892	J. Mard, Registrar
779	26 November 1892	Daniel Clucas Hannah Russell Bennison	Daniel Clucas Hannah Russell Bennison 💍 1892/3486	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 17	Newland Newland	2 years 2 1/2 years	Private Dwelling house of Francis Bennison at Newland	92/3674	Francis Bennison, father	26 November 1892	Revd. J. Cocker
780	29 November 1892	Frederick Foster Ruth Leggett	Frederick Foster Ruth Leggett 💍 1892/3479	Bachelor Spinster	Boilermaker Dressmaker	30 23	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 14 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	92/3668		29 November 1892	Revd. A. M. Beattie

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).