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 189

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
91	23 March 1893	William Joseph White Bertha Lillian Small	William Joseph White Bertha Lilian Small 💍 1893/1173	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 20	Petone Lower Hutt	7 years 7 years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	93/397		23 March 1893	Rev. Joshua Jones
92	24 March 1893	James Harris Clara Haack	James Barr Clara Adcock 💍 1893/1580	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	33 24	Wellington Wellington	7 months 7 years	St. Marks Church	93/1350		24 March 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
93	24 March 1893	Ernest Hawkins Little Philippa Luke	Earnest Hakins Little Philippa Luke 💍 1893/2588	Bachelor Spinster	Grain Merchant	22 21	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	House of Mrs. St. Mayes, Sydney Street	93/2437		24 March 1893	Rev. J. Clemball
94	25 March 1893	Robert Thomas Ripley Margaret de Hear	Robert Thomas Styles Margaret McKeague 💍 1893/1013	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter	21 18	Wellington Taranaki Street	7 years 7 years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	93/403	William de Hear, father	25 March 1893	Rev. G. J. Laws
95	27 March 1893	George McGregor Mary Ann Newman	George McGregor Mary Dunsmuir 💍 1893/1163	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 19	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St. Marks Church	93/388	Father	27 March 1893	Rev. R. Coffey
96	27 March 1893	Thomas O'Brien Margaret O'Brien	Thomas O'Brien Margaret O'Brien 💍 1893/1468 John O'Brien Mary O'Brien 💍 1893/293	Bachelor Spinster	Permitter	23 23	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/1368		27 March 1893	Very Rev. J. Sherry
97	29 March 1893	James Walker Louisa Martha Collins	James Walker Louisa Martha Collins 💍 1893/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	55 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 7 years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/1370		29 March 1893	Very Rev. J. Sherry
98	30 March 1893	Herbert Edward Thraves Emma Bruchlin	Herbert Edwards Thruston Emma Crichton 💍 1893/3955	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	33 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 7 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/453		30 March 1893	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
99	30 March 1893	John Jackson Mary Ann Redman	John Jackson Mary Ann Redman 💍 1893/3600	Bachelor Spinster	Officer in Salvation Army	24 23	Wellington Wellington	4 days 7 months	Salvation Army Barracks	93/3891		30 March 1893	Major Robinson
100	30 March 1893	Henry Rose Grace Gillespie	Henry Rose Grace Gillespie 💍 1893/1461	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 26	Wellington Taranaki Road	7 years 7 years	House of Mrs. Gillespie, Taranaki Road	93/1384		30 March 1893	Rev. J. Barnell
101	30 March 1893	John Francis Goodwin Emily Hammerton	John Francis Goodwin Emily Hannah Morgan 💍 1893/1143	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 22	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/452		30 March 1893	Mr. W. T. Wyatt
102	30 March 1893	John Gubbins Elizabeth Maria Thomson	John Gubbins Elizabeth Maria Thomson 💍 1893/1522	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	29 24	Wellington Wellington	7 years 7 years	House of Bride, Tasman Street	93/1389		30 March 1893	Mr. A. F. Turner
103	30 March 1893	John Nelson Margaret Moriarty	John Nelson Margaret Gertrude Moriarty 💍 1893/1521	Bachelor Spinster	Stevedore	23 22	Wellington Wellington	7 months 7 months	House of Mrs. Nelson, Martin Street	93/1411		30 March 1893	Rev. J. Paterson

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).