Intentions to Marry, 1893

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840405, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025.

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

Page 017

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1893 Registrar John Owen Lord

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

106

8 March 1893

Hugh Jas McKenzie
Georgina McGregor

Hugh James McKenzie
Georgina McGregor
💍 1893/42

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

20
19

Coromandel
Coromandel

2 years
19 years

Ch. of St. James Auckland

93/4

Father's

8 March 1893

Rev. F. Norris, Presbyterian

No	106
Date of Notice	8 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Jas McKenzie	Georgina McGregor
BDM Match (95%)	Hugh James McKenzie	Georgina McGregor
	💍 1893/42
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Coromandel	Coromandel
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Ch. of St. James Auckland
Folio	93/4
Consent	Father's
Date of Certificate	8 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Norris, Presbyterian

107

10 March 1893

Wm. Chas. Piggott
Mary Cumberland

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager

31
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
22 years

Dwelling of Mary Cumberland, Symonds Street

93/1048

10 March 1893

Rev. F. Blairie, Baptist

No	107
Date of Notice	10 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm. Chas. Piggott	Mary Cumberland
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mary Cumberland, Symonds Street
Folio	93/1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Blairie, Baptist

108

11 March 1893

Jno. Taylor
Mary Cumberland

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
19

Swanson
Swanson

4 years
7 years

Dwelling of John Cumberland

93/2

John Cumberland, Father

11 March 1893

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	11 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jno. Taylor	Mary Cumberland
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Swanson	Swanson
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of John Cumberland
Folio	93/2
Consent	John Cumberland, Father
Date of Certificate	11 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

109

11 March 1893

Ethelbert Wilfred Grey Rathbone
Ellen Butler Lank

Ethelbert Wilfred Grey Rathbone
Ellen Butler Lusk
💍 1893/895

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
20 years

St. Sepulchre's Ch.

93/62

11 March 1893

Rev. B. J. Dudley, Ch. of Eng.

No	109
Date of Notice	11 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ethelbert Wilfred Grey Rathbone	Ellen Butler Lank
BDM Match (94%)	Ethelbert Wilfred Grey Rathbone	Ellen Butler Lusk
	💍 1893/895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Ch.
Folio	93/62
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Dudley, Ch. of Eng.

110

13 March 1893

Fredk. Wm. Coleman
Ellen Cornelley

Frederick William Coleman
Ellen Connolly
💍 1893/2039

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

24
24

Cambridge
Auckland

12 years
24 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

93/2076

13 March 1893

Rev. J. Stackett, Roman C.

No	110
Date of Notice	13 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredk. Wm. Coleman	Ellen Cornelley
BDM Match (68%)	Frederick William Coleman	Ellen Connolly
	💍 1893/2039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	93/2076
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Stackett, Roman C.

111

13 March 1893

Albert Edwd. Gillman Coradine
Lydia Lily Gerald

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

24
23

Newton
Newton

4 years
4 years

Congregational Church

93/67

13 March 1893

Rev. H. J. Miller, Congregational

No	111
Date of Notice	13 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edwd. Gillman Coradine	Lydia Lily Gerald
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Newton	Newton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church
Folio	93/67
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Miller, Congregational

112

14 March 1893

Duncan Stewart
Ann Mary Brown

Duncan Stewart
Ann Mary Brown
💍 1893/896

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
26

Parna Bay
Auckland

30 years
26 years

Ch. of Holy Sepulchre

93/63

14 March 1893

Rev. B. J. Dudley, Ch. of Engd.

No	112
Date of Notice	14 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Stewart	Ann Mary Brown
	💍 1893/896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Parna Bay	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Ch. of Holy Sepulchre
Folio	93/63
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. J. Dudley, Ch. of Engd.

113

15 March 1893

Francis Patrick Finlay
Martha Crocker

Francis Parker Finlay
Martha Crocker
💍 1893/390

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
23

Waiau
Auckland

10 years
25 years

Dwelling of Benj. Crocker, Wellington St.

93/1049

15 March 1893

Rev. F. Blairie, Baptist

No	113
Date of Notice	15 March 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Patrick Finlay	Martha Crocker
BDM Match (91%)	Francis Parker Finlay	Martha Crocker
	💍 1893/390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Waiau	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Benj. Crocker, Wellington St.
Folio	93/1049
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Blairie, Baptist

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 1903. 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).