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 116

District of TIMARU 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
49	1 October 1892	William Foster Ellen Bacon	William Foster Ellen Tacon 💍 1892/3959 William Foster Catherine Ada Daley 💍 1893/89	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 years 20 years	Claremont Claremont	2 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Timaru	92/3696	Robert Bacon, Father	1 October 1892	Thomas Howley, Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
50	3 October 1892	Thomas Vincent Matilda Deans	Thomas Vincent Matilda Deans 💍 1892/3449	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	38 years 18 years	Timaru Timaru	1 year 8 years	residence of Mr William Deans, Timaru	92/3710	William Deans, Father	3 October 1892	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
51	8 October 1892	Thomas Haynes Florence Silvester Allan	Thomas Haynes Florence Silvester Allan 💍 1892/3450	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	33 years 18 years	Beaconsfield Pleasant Point	1 year 10 years	Presbyterian Manse, Timaru	92/3711	William Allan, Father	8 October 1892	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
52	10 October 1892	John Cromie Mary Grace Barker	John Cromie Mary Grace Barker 💍 1892/3958	Widower Widow	Farmer	62 years 43 years	Kingsdown Timaru	18 years 14 years	residence of Rev. William James Williams, Timaru	92/3695		10 October 1892	Rev. William James Williams, Wesleyan Minister
53	21 October 1892	Richard Campbell Minnie Burns	Richard Campbell Minnie Burns 💍 1892/3451	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Domestic Servant	30 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	19 years 18 years	residence of Mrs Margaret Burns, Timaru	92/3712	Margaret Burns, Mother. Father dead	21 October 1892	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
54	22 October 1892	Edward James Rodgers Celine Regitche Hall	Edward James Rodgers Celine Regitche Hall 💍 1892/3466	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	8 years 15 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Timaru	92/3703	Frederick Emiel Sophus Hall, Father	22 October 1892	Rev. John Subman, Roman Catholic Clergyman
55	24 October 1892	Thomas Pierson Firman Mary Grace Harris	Thomas Pierson Firman Mary Grace Harris 💍 1892/3953	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	24 years 21 years	Washdyke Washdyke	2 years 2 years	residence of Mr Nathaniel Harris, Washdyke	92/3691		24 October 1892	Rev. Philip John Cocks, Church of England Minister
56	25 October 1892	Charles Henry Chapman Margaret Fitzell	Charles Henry Chapman Margaret Fitzell 💍 1892/3954	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	1 year 3 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Timaru	92/3692	James Chapman, Father	25 October 1892	Rev. Philip John Cocks, Church of England Minister
57	3 November 1892	Frederick Potts Elizabeth Bacon	Freadrick Potts Elizabeth Tacon 💍 1892/3447	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	35 years 23 years	Timaru Timaru	12 years 23 years	residence of Mrs Powell, Brown Street, Timaru	92/3700		3 November 1892	Rev. William F. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
58	7 November 1892	James Cumminghame Lizzie Hogan	James Cunningham Lizzie Rogan 💍 1892/3467	Widower Spinster	Carrier	30 years 25 years	Timaru Timaru	9 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Timaru	92/3704		7 November 1892	Rev. John Subman, Roman Catholic Clergyman

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).