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 185

District of Wellington 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
31	19 January 1893	John Collier Eleanor Douglas	John Collis Eleanor Douglas Bulliman 💍 1893/1177	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 20	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 1 year	Wesleyan Church	93/401	19 January 1893	Revd. J. Lewis
32	20 January 1893	George Lockwood Elizabeth M. Lagon	George Lockwood Elizabeth McLagan 💍 1893/966	Widower Spinster	Gentleman	31 27	Petone Petone	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Lagon, Petone	93/363	20 January 1893	Revd. A. Thomson
33	20 January 1893	Hugh McCarthy Mary Ryan	Hugh McArtney Mary Ryan 💍 1893/979	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Church of the Angels	93/376	20 January 1893	Revd. W. Goggon
34	21 January 1893	William Alexander Emma Jane Rogers	William Alexander McCallum Emma Jane Rogers 💍 1893/1117	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	25 20	Ngahauranga Happy Valley	4 years 4 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/426	21 January 1893	Mr. W. Ryall
35	28 January 1893	Samuel Francis Rhodes Mary Jane Brown	Francis Lilliquist Mary Jane Brown 💍 1893/2494	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 35	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/428	28 January 1893	Mr. W. Ryall
36	28 January 1893	James Burgess Harriet Galloway	James Burgess Harriet Mallowes 💍 1893/1118 James Burgess Helen Wilson 💍 1894/655	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand	34 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/427	28 January 1893	Mr. W. Ryall
37	30 January 1893	Hugh Tallance Annie Margaret Swan	Hugh Vallance Annie Margaret Toohey 💍 1893/1168	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 26	Wellington Wellington	5 months 4 years	Williams	93/393	30 January 1893	Revd. W. Powell
38	1 February 1893	Richard Hughes Agnes Oliver	Richard Hughes Agnes Oliver 💍 1893/1120	Widower Spinster	Mariner	41 40	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/429	1 February 1893	Mr. W. Ryall
39	2 February 1893	John Brazell Mary Mitchell Craig	John Brasell Mary Mitchell Craig 💍 1893/964	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	20 30	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	9 months 3 days	Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt	93/361	2 February 1893	Revd. A. Thomson
40	6 February 1893	Percy Grahame Blanche Jean Riley	Percy Grahame Blanche Jean Riley 💍 1893/1019	Bachelor Spinster	Boat Builder	25 24	Wellington Wellington	6 weeks 1 week	Wesleyan Church, Molsworth Street	93/409	6 February 1893	Revd. J. G. Chapman
41	7 February 1893	John Murray Catherine Slye Wheeld	John Murray Catherine Eliza Whelch 💍 1893/986	Bachelor Spinster	Coal and Produce Dealer	30 29	Wellington Wellington	6 months 14 days	Wellington Synagogue	93/360	7 February 1893	Revd. C. I. Egg
42	7 February 1893	Francis Edward Petherick Edith Eva West	Francis Edward Petherick Edith Eva West 💍 1893/1180	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	29 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	C. Church	93/382	7 February 1893	Revd. R. Coffey
43	8 February 1893	John Andrew Deing Bridget Linehan	John Andrew Dimond Bridget Linchan 💍 1893/1160	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Employee	26 27	Wellington Wellington	1 year 6 months	Church of the Angels	93/377	8 February 1893	Very Revd. J. Deory
44	9 February 1893	Arthur Richard Clear Amelia Alloo	Arthur Richard Cleal Amelia Alloo 💍 1893/1121	Bachelor Divorced	Traveller	23 26	Wellington Wellington	6 months 4 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/430	9 February 1893	Mr. W. Ryall
45	9 February 1893	James Watkins Tina Elsie Cuff	James Watkins Flora Elsie Cuff 💍 1893/1182	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	23 21	Wellington Wellington	8 months 10 days	C. Church	93/383	9 February 1893	Revd. R. Coffey

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).