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 939

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 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
273	11 July 1893	George Herbert Barton Emma Parr	George Herbert Barton Emma Parr 💍 1893/2496	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 24	Hastings Hawk Bay Hastings Hawk Bay	9 years 2 months	Wesleyan Church Hastings	93/2265		11 July 1893	Rev. W. J. Elliott
274	20 July 1893	John William Fearn Theresa Logan	John William Fearn Theresa Lonerdgan 💍 1893/2481	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	23 22	Hastings Hastings	2 weeks 3 days	St. Matthews Church Hastings	93/2271		20 July 1893	Rev. John Hobbs
275	29 July 1893	Henare Te Momo Ripine Piti	Henare Te Momo Ripini Piti 💍 1893/2495	Bachelor Spinster	Native Native	21 20	Ohiti Hawk Bay Ohiti Hawk Bay	2 months 9 years	Registrar's Office Hastings	93/2264	Nutana Te Kawe, uncle	29 July 1893	Robert Rathbone
276	8 August 1893	John McNat Phobe Elizabeth Murfith		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 23	Hastings Hastings	4 years 2 years	Residence of W. J. Murfith Hastings	93/2260		8 August 1893	Rev. H. J. Fraser
277	16 August 1893	William Stevon Scott Sarah Ann Haymes	William Steven Scott Sarah Ann Haymes 💍 1893/4015	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 22	Hastings Hastings	12 years 7 years	Residence of Haymes Hastings	93/2266		16 August 1893	Rev. W. J. Elliott
278	17 August 1893	Richard Eddy Rosetta Bailey	Richard Eddy Rosetta Bailey 💍 1893/2482	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 20	Napier Hastings	6 years 8 months	St. Matthews Napier	93/2272	John Bailey	17 August 1893	Rev. John Hobbs
279	24 August 1893	William Gilmon Emma Horne	William Gilmore Emma Horne 💍 1893/2497	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 18	Pukahu Hastings	3 years 12 years	House of T. Horne Hastings	93/2267	Thomas Horne	24 August 1893	Rev. W. J. Elliott
280	30 August 1893	William Bray O'Brien Kathleen Lloyd	William Bray O'Brien Kathleen Lloyd 💍 1893/2839	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	42 32	Hastings Hastings	10 years 3 days	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	93/2889		30 August 1893	Rev. Father Smythe
281	1 September 1893	William Freeman Maria Simmons	William Freeman Maria Simmons 💍 1893/2498	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 24	Hastings Hastings	2 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church Hastings	93/2268		1 September 1893	Rev. W. J. Elliott
282	26 September 1893	Walter George Constantine Chapman Adelina Frederica Matilda Goile	Walter George Constantine Chapman Adelina Frederica Matilda Goile 💍 1893/2483	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	19 21	Hastings Hastings	19 years 3 years	St. Lukes Church Havelock	93/2273	Elizabeth Chapman	26 September 1893	Rev. Canon St. Hill
283	30 September 1893	William Aitchison Sophia Ligulia Provide	William Aitcheson Sophia Liquilla Prouse 💍 1893/3660	Widower Widow	Carpenter	51 48	Hastings Hastings	4 years 4 years	Salvation Army Barracks Hastings	93/3930		30 September 1893	Tho. Edgar Vince, Salvation Army

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).