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 1415

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 December 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
27	20 October 1893	Charles Coleman Rose Emma Powell	Charles Coleman Rose Emma Powell 💍 1893/3252	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 24	Marton Marton	22 years 18 years	Church Marton	93/3323		20 October 1893	Revd a. Towgood
28	28 October 1893	Perez Wotton Eleanora a. Iredell	Percy Wotton Elenora Angelina Iveson 💍 1893/3241	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Upper Turakina Marton	2 years 18 months	Church Marton	93/3322		28 October 1893	Revd a. Towgood
29	3 November 1893	Wm Jno Jermy Sybil Mitchell	William John Jenny Sybil Mitchell 💍 1893/3507	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	28 23	Turakina Turakina	4 years 15 years	Registrars Office	93/3898		3 November 1893	Thos. Ward Depty Regr.
30	14 November 1893	Alexander Jackson Annie Elizth Cline	Alexander Jackson Annie Elizabeth Climo 💍 1893/3512	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	34 21	Marton Rata	4 days 4 months	Registrars Office	93/3899		14 November 1893	Thos. Ward Depty Regr.
31	24 November 1893	Emanuel Edwd Hy Snellgrove Sarah Powell	Emanuel Edward Henry Snellgrove Sarah Powell 💍 1893/3259	Divorced Widow	Cabinetmaker	52 47	Marton M.E. View Marton	23 years M.R. Porrells residence 23 years	M.E. View Marton	93/3327		24 November 1893	Revd J. Fee
32	27 November 1893	Harry Owen Hunt Mary Laing Russell	Harry Amer Hunt Mary Laing Russell 💍 1893/3260	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Marton Marton	22 years 6 years	Foresters Hall	93/3328	James Russell Father	4 December 1893	Major T.E. Vince
33	27 November 1893	Walter Crossley Amelia Emma Bishop	Walter Crossley Amelia Emma Bishop 💍 1893/3261	Bachelor Spinster	Capt. Salvation Army	28 28	Marton Marton	4 months 4 days	Foresters Hall	93/3329		4 December 1893	Major T.E. Vince
34	5 December 1893	Gustav Friedrich Ellen Kendall	Gustov Fredrick Ellen Kendall 💍 1893/3257	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 21	Marton Marton	31 years 18 months	Presbyterian Church	93/3325		5 December 1893	Revd J. Gordon
35	23 December 1893	Henry Hughes Harriet Agnes Peachey	William Henry Hughes Harriet Agnes Peachey 💍 1893/3258	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 17	Marton Turakina	8 years 17 years	Presbyterian Church	93/3326	John S. Peachey Father	23 December 1893	Revd John Ross
36	23 December 1893	Harry Hazell Ellen Annie Catherine Alice Ross	Harry Hazell Ellen Alice Katherine Annie Ross 💍 1893/3256	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	34 26	Marton Marton	1 day 26 years	Church Marton	93/3324		26 December 1893	Revd a. Towgood.

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).