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 254

District of Christchurch 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
85	20 March 1893	John Louther Fletcher Emily Weston	John Lowther Fletcher Emily Weston 💍 1893/318	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	42 38	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	St. Mary's Church, Merivale	93/915		20 March 1893	Rev. C. Newton, Church of England
86	20 March 1893	Claude Hamilton Coe Amy Ellen Crandage	Claude Hamilton Coe Amy Ellen Amitage 💍 1893/1201	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 30	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 11 years	House of Mr. Crandage, Worcester St.	93/538		20 March 1893	Rev. W. Initt, Wesleyan
87	20 March 1893	George Gregor Caroline Rachel Hammond	Archibald McGregor Caroline Rachel Hammond 💍 1893/1211	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	26 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 24 years	St. Peter's Church, Ferry Road	93/625		20 March 1893	Rev. H. Tracie, Presbyterian
88	20 March 1893	Joseph George Carter Alice Bella Moody	Joseph Deyell Alice Bella Moody 💍 1893/319	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	24 19	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 19 years	St. Mary's Church, Merivale	93/916	Jane Moody, Mother	20 March 1893	Rev. E. Newton, Church of England
89	20 March 1893	Walter George Roberson Clara Ellen Buxton	Walter George Robinson Clara Ellen Buxton 💍 1893/1374	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 27	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 27 years	St. John's Church, Woolston	93/571		20 March 1893	Rev. E. H. Gosset, Church of England
90	21 March 1893	Albert Herbert Brooks Agnes Emily Hudson	Albert Herbert Brooks Agnes Emily Hudson 💍 1893/3964	Widower Spinster	Telegraphist	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	93/617		21 March 1893	Registrar of Marriages, J. J. Poulson
91	21 March 1893	Thomas David Smith Louisa Jane Alexander	Thomas David Smith Louisa Jane Alexander 💍 1893/1763	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Bootmaker	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 19 years	House of Mr. Smith, Papanui Road, Sydenham	93/1620	No person having authority to give consent	4 April 1893	Rev. G. Homeree, Methodist

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).