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 533

District of Napier 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
41	13 May 1893	Robert Hislop Rebecca Jane Roulston	Robert Hislop Rebecca Jane Roulston 💍 1893/526	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 24	Napier Napier	9 years 8 years	Residence of the Brides Parents, Carlyle St Napier	93/1199	13 May 1893	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church
42	15 May 1893	Edward Helly Catherine Whelan	Edward Kelly Catherine Whelan 💍 1893/536	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	31 22	Napier Napier	3 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	93/1189	15 May 1893	Rev. M. Grogan, Roman Catholic Church
43	18 May 1893	William Perry Annie Brooker	William Benjamin Perry Annie Brooker 💍 1894/93	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 21	Napier Napier	6 months 6 months	Presbyterian Manse	Not Solemnized See letter attached.	18 May 1893	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church.
44	23 May 1893	John James Corry Annie Mary Clare Robinson	John James Carry Annie Mary Clair Robinson 💍 1893/543	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 24	Napier Napier	18 months 18 months	Roman Catholic Chapel	93/1190	23 May 1893	Rev. M. Grogan, Roman Catholic Church
45	23 May 1893	Edward Cowan Gertrude Mary Sutton	Edward Cowan Gertrude Mary Sutton 💍 1893/541	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist School Teacher	24 22	Napier Napier	14 years 20 years	Residence of Bride's Mother, Emerson St Napier	93/1213	23 May 1893	Rev. J. F. Jones, Baptist
46	29 May 1893	Herbert Town Grainger Mary Ann Watt	Herbert Edwin Grainger Mary Ann Watt 💍 1893/527	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	24 23	Napier Napier	4 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church	93/1198	29 May 1893	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church.
47	31 May 1893	Thomas Moran Catherine Barrett	Thomas Moran Catherine Barrett 💍 1893/544	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	32 26	Napier Napier	6 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Chapel	93/1191	31 May 1893	Rev. M. Grogan, Catholic Chapel Napier.
48	1 June 1893	James Wishart Moreton Fanny Eliza Moreton	James Wishart Fanny Eliza Norton 💍 1893/528	Widower Widow	Storeman	59 44	Napier Napier	35 years 14 years	Residence of Bride, Milton Road Napier.	93/1199	1 June 1893	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church
49	6 June 1893	Joseph David Briasco Rose Ada Taylor	Joseph David Briases Rose Ada Taylor 💍 1893/529	Bachelor Spinster	Umbrella maker	20 19	Napier Napier	1 year 8 months	Presbyterian Church	93/1200	6 June 1893	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian Church.

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).