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 412

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 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
213	18 May 1893	John Richardson Bach Elizabeth Douglas	John Richardson Elizabeth Douglas 💍 1893/377 John Henry Dashwood Elizabeth Douglas 💍 1893/2096	Bachelor Widow	Cook	39 58	Auckland Auckland	2 yrs 12 [illegible]	Registrar's Office	93/1024		18 May 1893	J. Wayland, Deputy Reg.
214	19 May 1893	Sydney Herbert Hattersley Lilian Rennie	Sydney Herbert Hattersley Lilian Rennie 💍 1893/3837	Bachelor Widow	Settler	23 26	Birkenhead Birkenhead	5 yrs 6 [illegible]	Dwelling of Mr. G. Cuckson	93/945		19 May 1893	Rev. J. Ward, Wesleyan
215	20 May 1893	Alfred Charles Ward Edith Annie Bailey	Alfred Charles Ward Edith Annie Bailey 💍 1893/156	Bachelor Spinster	Draper's Assistant	25 24	Mt. Roskill Mt. Roskill	3 yrs 3 [illegible] Mt. Roskill	Dwelling of Mr. E. J. Bailey	93/954		20 May 1893	Rev. G. B. Munro, Presbyterian
216	22 May 1893	William James Dunne Eliza Stella Christina Hansen	William James Dunne Eliza Stella Christina Hansen 💍 1893/378	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 17	Wairoa South Wairoa South	8 yrs 3 mos Auckland	Registrar's Office	93/1025	Mary Ann Emmeline Hewson, Mother	22 May 1893	Registrar of Marriages
217	23 May 1893	Thomas Frank Tester Elizabeth Donovan	Thomas Frank Tester Elizabeth Donovan 💍 1893/379	Bachelor Widow	Wharf Lumper	27 27	Auckland Newton	3 yrs 1 [illegible] Auckland	Registrar's Office	93/1026		23 May 1893	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
218	23 May 1893	George Samuel Wood Isabella Black	George Samuel Wood Isabella Black 💍 1893/167	Widower Spinster	Cabinet maker	27 27	Epsom Mt. Eden	27 yrs 6 mos Remuera	St. Mark's Church	93/961		23 May 1893	Rev. J. Richards, Ch. of England
219	23 May 1893	James Clarke Emily Priscilla Mahoney	James Clarke Emily Priscilla Mahoney 💍 1893/162	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	20 22	Parnell Parnell	20 yrs 22 [illegible] Remuera	St. Luke's Church	93/955	Andrew Clarke, Father	23 May 1893	Rev. G. B. Munro, Presbyterian

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).