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 288

District of Quiriana 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	18 January 1893	Arthur Corlett Kee Charlotte Sophia Gibson	Arthur Corlett Kee Charlotte Lydia Gibson 💍 1893/97	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 24	Claremont Claremont	2 years 15 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Quiriana	93/674		18 January 1893	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister
2	1 February 1893	Walter Burgess Kimber Emily Add Sophia Stocker	Walter Burgess Kimber Emily Ada Sophia Stocker 💍 1893/98	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 22	Quiriana Washdyke	3 days 14 days	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Quiriana	93/675		1 February 1893	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister
3	1 February 1893	Peter McQuilkin Elizabeth Jane Nicholls	Peter McQuilkin Elizabeth Jane Nicholls 💍 1893/115	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	35 23	Bluecliffs Washdyke	6 months 2 years	residence of Mr. Henry John Nicholls, Washdyke	93/668		1 February 1893	Rev. Charles Price Brown, Baptist Minister.
4	3 February 1893	Robert Machay Linwood Lauisa Powell	Robert MacKay Linwood Louisa Powell 💍 1893/114	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Cook	28 26	Alluvery Alluvery	14 days 16 months	Presbyterian Church, Quiriana	93/667		3 February 1893	Rev. William Lillies, Presbyterian Minister
5	9 February 1893	George Sydney Bezzant Emily Sabina Wakefield	George Sydney Bezzant Emily Sabina Wakefield 💍 1893/116	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	21 18	Quiriana Quiriana	14 years 18 years	Beggant Church Street, Quiriana	93/669	George Wakefield, Father	9 February 1893	Rev. Charles Price Brown, Baptist Minister
6	11 February 1893	John Michael Keane Nora Houlihan	John Michael Keane Norah Iboulihan 💍 1893/118	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	Pleasant Point Pleasant Point	22 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Pleasant Point	93/671		11 February 1893	Rev. Augustine Lepetit, Roman Catholic Clergyman.
7	14 February 1893	William Shalker Ellen Gallagher	William Shalker Ellen Gallagher 💍 1893/100	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Quiriana Quiriana	13 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Quiriana	93/677		14 February 1893	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quiriana.
8	22 February 1893	John Farquhar Marcia Marion Silvester	John Farquhar Mareia Marion Silvester 💍 1893/113	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	38 21	Quiriana Pleasant Point	3 days 14 days	residence of Mr. William Andrew Allan, Pleasant Point.	93/666		22 February 1893	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian Minister
9	27 February 1893	Stephen Henry Rowe Mary Jane Roberts	Stephen Henry Rowe Mary Jane Roberts 💍 1893/96	Widower Widow	Labourer	39 44	Quiriana Quiriana	3 days 3 days	residence of Rev. William Woodward, Quiriana	93/673		27 February 1893	Rev. William C. Woodward, Primitive Methodist Minister
10	4 March 1893	Adam Adamson Lucy Jones	Adam Adamson Lucy Jones 💍 1893/106	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 22	Alluvery Pleasant Point	13 years 11 years	residence of Mr. Thomas Adamson, Alluvery.	93/665		4 March 1893	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian Minister.

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).