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 171

District of Rangitikai 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
1	9 January 1893	William Delany Margaret May O'Connor	William Delaney Margaret May O'Connor 💍 1893/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	33 26	Bulls Bulls	6 years 4 days	Roman Catholic Church, Bulls	93/328		9 January 1893	Revd Peter Broussard
2	11 January 1893	Alfred Lemmin Rose Edwards	Alfred Lewin Rose Edwards 💍 1893/930	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	22 18	Bulls Bulls	2 years 15 years	English Church, Bulls	93/325	Mother	11 January 1893	Revd A. Innes-Jones
3	21 January 1893	John Robson Agnes Annie Hutching	John Robson Agnes Annie Hutchins 💍 1893/927	Bachelor Spinster	Flour-miller	28 18	Marton Overton	4 years 10 years	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	93/322	John Hutching, Father	21 January 1893	Revd A. Lowgood
4	31 January 1893	William Henry Beach May Adelaide Hellier	William Henry Beach May Adelaide Helleur 💍 1893/1275	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 17	Turakina Turakina	2 months 1 year	Registrar's Office, Marton	93/329	Frederick Hellier, Father	31 January 1893	W. J. Cheney
5	31 January 1893	Reginald Oring Keen Harriet Coleman	Reginald Pring Keer Harriet Coleman 💍 1893/926	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Marton Marton	5 years 22 years	English Church, Marton	93/321		31 January 1893	Revd A. Lowgood
6	6 February 1893	Frederick Ernest McKenzie Elizabeth Frear	Frederick Ernest McKenzie Elizabeth Frear 💍 1893/931	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	23 22	Bulls Bulls	3 days 18 months	English Church, Bulls	93/326		6 February 1893	Revd A. Innes-Jones
7	11 February 1893	Ernle James Willis Amelia Margaret Willis	Ernle James Wilde Amelia Magaret Willis 💍 1893/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Marton Greatford	5 years 24 years	English Church, Greatford	93/327		11 February 1893	Revd A. Innes-Jones
8	24 February 1893	Joseph Zajonostowski Mary Dorothia Christina Johnstone Windelborn	Joseph Fajonskowsky Marie Louise Christina Johanne Windelborn 💍 1893/925	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	24 21	Marton Heaton Park	18 years 3 months	Lutheran Church, Marton	93/320		24 February 1893	Revd C. C. W. Meyer
9	25 February 1893	George Frederick Newnham Mary Jane Crawford	George Frederick Newton Mary Jane Crawford 💍 1893/733	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21	Lochaber Paraekaretu	1 year 5 years	The Manse, Hunterville	93/324		25 February 1893	Revd D. Gordon
10	21 March 1893	Richard Waterworth Adeline Judoff	Richard Watersworth Adeline Gudopp 💍 1893/1398	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	23 20	Marton Marton	3 years 19 years	Lutheran Church, Marton	93/318	Wilhelm Judoff, Father	21 March 1893	Revd C. C. W. Meyer
11	28 March 1893	James Johnston Elizabeth Ruth Galpin	James Johnston Elizabeth Ruth Galpin 💍 1893/3945	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	26 21	Upper Turakina Upper Turakina	1 day 21 years	Residence, Upper Turakina	93/323	Mr Alfred Galpin	28 March 1893	Revd D. Gordon

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).