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 151

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1893

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
364	6 February 1893	Georg Macallister Elizabeth Gough	George Macallister Elizabeth Gough 💍 1893/844	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 22	Feilding Feilding	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office Feilding	93/259		6 February 1893	Samuel Hopkins Stevens
365	20 February 1893	Samuel Chamberlain Annie Harvey	Samuel Chamberlain Annie Harvey 💍 1893/821	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	23 23	Feilding Feilding	16 years 2 months	Residence of W.E. Chamberlain Feilding	93/260		20 February 1893	J. H. Lyon
366	21 February 1893	Edward Vincent S/John Coppen Alice Watson	Edward Vincent John Coppen Alice Watson 💍 1893/822	Widower Widow	Accountant	35 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Residence of W.E. Chamberlain Feilding	93/261		21 February 1893	J. H. Lyon
367	27 February 1893	Roderick Sheehy Emma Smith	Roderick Sheehy Emma Smith 💍 1893/823	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 22	Feilding Feilding	6 years 6 years	Residence of Joseph Smith Feilding	93/262		27 February 1893	J. H. Lyon
368	11 March 1893	Edward Anchor Donnelly Elizabeth Harriett Holmes	Edward Anchor Donnelly Elizabeth Harriett Holmes 💍 1893/824	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 23	Feilding Feilding	3 years 20 years	Anglican Church Feilding	93/263		11 March 1893	A. C. Sermon
369	14 March 1893	William Henry Hart Annie Eva Pawson	William Henry Hart Annie Eva Pawson 💍 1893/825	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	20 24	Ashurst Feilding	3 days 12 years	Residence of John Pawson Feilding	93/264	Richard Hart, Father	14 March 1893	J. H. Lyon
370	17 March 1893	Robert Montgomery Rachael Robinson	Robert Montgomery Rachael Robinson 💍 1893/826	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	49 30	Feilding Feilding	15 years 15 years	Registrars Office Feilding	93/265		17 March 1893	Jas. A. Stevens
371	18 March 1893	William McKenzie Johanna McKenzie	William McKenzie Johana McKenzie 💍 1893/827	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	Apiti Apiti	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office Feilding	93/266		18 March 1893	Jas. A. Stevens
372	27 March 1893	George Bleakley Bailey Julia Catherine Taylor	George Stephen Bailey Julia Catherine Taylor 💍 1893/828	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Colyton Colyton	3 days 14 days	Residence of George Taylor Feilding	93/267		27 March 1893	George Clement

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).