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 1058

District of Ashburton 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
815	11 July 1893	Michael Francis McIver Mary Angelina Reynolds	Michael Francis McAvey Mary Angelina Reynolds 💍 1893/2434	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	44 27	Mt Pleasant Farm Mt Pleasant Farm	20 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	93/2521		11 July 1893	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
816	15 July 1893	Alfred Thomas Robottom Agnes Mercy Ashton	Alfred Thomas Robottom Agnes Mercy Ashton 💍 1893/2429	Widower Spinster	Hair-dresser	54 41	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 5 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	93/2517		13 July 1893	J. Mard, Registrar
817	21 July 1893	John Cocks Annie Matilda Hillyer	John Cocks Annie Matilda Hillyer 💍 1893/2393	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	24 22	Eiffelton Eiffelton	3 years 5 years	Salvation Army Barracks, Ashburton	93/2526		21 July 1893	Major Veal
818	22 July 1893	William Thompson Margaret Maria Bennett	William Thompson Margaret Maria Bennett 💍 1893/2385	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 21	Ashburton Ashburton	9 years 12 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	93/2524		22 July 1893	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
819	27 July 1893	Arthur Easley Annie Ede	Arthur Yaxley Annie Ede 💍 1893/2431	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	25 22	Tinwald Flemington	21 years 9 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	93/2578		27 July 1893	J. Mard, Registrar
820	26 August 1893	James Arthur Conway Mary Ann Giles	James Arthur Conway Mary Ann Giles 💍 1893/2392	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	30 21	Ashburton Makanui	4 years 2 years	Private Dwelling of John Parker at Trevorston	93/2525		26 August 1893	Revd. A. Blake
821	28 August 1893	William Pearson Jessie Gordon Graham	William Pearson Jessie Gordon Graham 💍 1893/2432	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter	25 23	Ashburton Allenton	10 years 3 years	Private Dwelling of William Pearson, Ashburton	93/2519		28 August 1893	Revd. E. Lawry
822	4 September 1893	Arthur Cecil Hardy Mary Crum	Arthur Cecil Hardy Mary Crum 💍 1893/2374	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Ashburton Hampstead	3 years 12 years	Private Dwelling of John Crum at Hampstead	93/2523		4 September 1893	Revd. James Cocker
823	12 September 1893	Arthur Pastor Williamson Florence Alice Dent	Arthur Parker Williamson Florence Alice Dent 💍 1893/2805	Bachelor Spinster	Draper's Assistant Dressmaker	30 26	Ashburton Lauriston	14 years 10 years	Private Dwelling of James Dent at Lauriston	93/2827		12 September 1893	Revd. J. P. Riddle
824	26 September 1893	William Alfred Pearson Ethel Alcorn	William Alfred Pearson Ethel Alcorn 💍 1893/3417	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	20 23	Tinwald Ashburton	6 years 8 years	Private Dwelling of Samuel Miles Alcorn at Ashburton	93/3504	Alfred Miles Alcorn, father	26 September 1893	Revd. Danl. Lawry

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 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).