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 571

District of Masterton 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
15	15 April 1893	William Reid Margaret Cooney	William Reid Margaret Cooney 💍 1893/1308	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	30 34	Masterton Masterton	6 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	93/1273		4 April 1893	Revd John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
16	16 April 1893	John O'Keefe Sophia Allen	John OKeife Sophia Allen 💍 1893/2794	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Dressmaker	36 43	Masterton Masterton	6 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	93/2838	for husband for 9 years. Hannah Thomas Allan	5 April 1893	Revd John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
17	17 April 1893	James Andrew Mary Elizabeth Ridgway	James Andrew Mary Elizabeth Ridgway 💍 1893/1414	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Masterton Masterton	5 weeks 2 months	House of Mr James Ridgway, Masterton	93/1259	James Ridgway, father	5 April 1893	Revd Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
18	18 April 1893	Alfred Olson Kate Keane	Alfred Olsen Kate Keane 💍 1893/2796	Bachelor Spinster	Boarding House Keeper Housemaid	33 34	Masterton Masterton	6 days 7 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	93/2840		10 April 1893	Revd John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
19	19 April 1893	Charles Blackbourn Minnie May Darcy	Charles Blackburn Minnie May D'Arcy 💍 1893/1417	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 24	Masterton Manaia	6 days 7 days	House of Mr G. Darcy, Manaia	93/1261		12 April 1893	Revd John Deckes, Wesleyan Minister
20	20 April 1893	Frederick Richard Chapman Harriett Emma Wilton	Frederick Richard Chapman Harriett Emma Wilton 💍 1893/1325	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 17	Masterton Bideford	7 days 6 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Masterton	93/1266	Henry Wilton, father	12 April 1893	John Bagge, Registrar
21	21 April 1893	Joseph Wade James Johnston Augusta Schultz	Joseph Charles James Ewington Augusta Schultz 💍 1893/1416	Bachelor Spinster	Coach builder	31 25	Masterton Masterton	14 days 12 months	House of Mr G. Schultz, Masterton	93/1260		14 April 1893	Revd John Oakes, Wesleyan Minister
22	22 April 1893	Edward Welch Mary Jane Barnes	Edward Welch Mary Ann Barnes 💍 1893/1306	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	25 23	Masterton Masterton	3 weeks 1 month	Wesleyan Church, Masterton	93/1262		22 April 1893	Revd John Oakes, Wesleyan Minister
23	25 April 1893	James Henry Kibblewhite Annie Eva Hathaway	James Henry Kibblewhite Annie Eva Hathaway 💍 1893/1326	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 21	Masterton Masterton	3 days 2 months	Church of England, Masterton	93/1268		25 April 1893	Revd William Ballachey, Church of England Minister
24	29 April 1893	Thomas Cripps Hilda Bennett	Thomas Cripps Hilda Bennett 💍 1893/3966	Bachelor Spinster	Shopkeeper	32 27	Whareama Whareama	2 months 6 months	Church of England, Whareama	93/1259		29 April 1893	Revd J. G. Andrew, Church of England 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).