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 599

District of Wellington 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
179	31 May 1893	John Smith Lucy Darley	John Smith Lucy Bailey 💍 1893/1481 John Smith Mary Ellen McFarlane 💍 1893/3703	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	22 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1455		1 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
180	1 June 1893	John Hanson Speece Christina Morris	James Borson Speed Christina Morris 💍 1893/1388	Bachelor Spinster	Successor	32 24	Wellington Carterton	years 2 months	Presbyterian Church, Carterton, Rangitikei	93/1313		1 June 1893	Revd. Land Gordon
181	1 June 1893	Francis Grimley Theresa Currency		Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 17	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/1379	Robert Daniel, Guardian	1 June 1893	Very Revd. J. Devoy
182	1 June 1893	John Baptiste Zorka Elizabeth Nadie	John Baptiste Zortea Elizabeth Hardie 💍 1893/1472	Bachelor Spinster	Bottler	21 26	Wellington Wellington	8 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1446		2 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
183	2 June 1893	Joseph Charles Smith Emily Georgina Raha	Joseph Charles Arnold Emily Georgina Rabe 💍 1893/1524	Bachelor Spinster	Brassfounder	25 21	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	Church of Christ, Vivian Street	93/1391		3 June 1893	Mr. W. F. Turner
184	3 June 1893	William John Lewis Annie Harman	William John Urwin Ada Annie Harman 💍 1893/1942	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	24 23	Wellington Carterton	years	Anglican Church, Carterton	93/1826		3 June 1893	Revd. W. Ballachey
185	5 June 1893	George Beal Bask Celia Leah Wilmore		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	House of Mr. McKenzie	93/1420		5 June 1893	Revd. G. Paterson
186	5 June 1893	Arnold Batchelor Emma Lucro	Arnold Batchelor Emma Lucre 💍 1893/1473	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	26 28	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1447		5 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
187	6 June 1893	Charles Daniel Browne Alice Baker	Charles Daniel Browne Fox Ethel Alice Baker 💍 1893/1474	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	23 17	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1448	Frances Ann Baker, Mother	6 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
188	6 June 1893	Charles Smith Jane Jones	Charles Smith Jane Amos 💍 1893/1462 Charles Smith Sarah Evans 💍 1893/426	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 24	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	House of Mr. Amos, Vivian Street	93/1385		6 June 1893	Revd. C. Thacraston
189	6 June 1893	John Daniel Sprino Elizabeth Wilkinson	John David Spring Elizabeth Wilkinson 💍 1893/1476	Bachelor Widow	Engineer	50 47	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1450		6 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
190	8 June 1893	Lawrie Christian Pike Lucy Ann Johnston	Lauritz Christian Larsen Pihl Lucy Anna Johnston 💍 1893/1475	Bachelor Widow	Labour	38 28	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1449		8 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
191	9 June 1893	Matthew Rober Harriet Miles	Matthew Roberts Harriett Miles 💍 1893/2737	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	30 22	Ngahauranga Wellington	years 6 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/2853		9 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
192	10 June 1893	John Tandow Dora Rouse	John Sanders Dora Rouse 💍 1893/1477	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	27 27	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	93/1457		10 June 1893	W. I. Wyall
193	10 June 1893	Charles Taylor Mary Josephine McGregor	Charles Taylor Mary Josephine McGregor 💍 1893/1456	Bachelor Widow	Labour	26 36	Wellington Wellington	4 months years	St. Mary of the Angels	93/1380		10 June 1893	Very Revd. J. Devoy

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).