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 1625

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1893 Registrar Thomas Mouat

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

14 October 1893

John Read
Mary McKay

John Mead
Mary McKay
💍 1893/3685

John Benson
Mary Ann McKay
💍 1893/1126

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman
nil

30
36

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

12 years
10 years

House of Mary McKay, Port Chalmers

93/3829

14 October 1893

Rev. J. O'Connell, Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	14 October 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Read	Mary McKay
BDM Match (94%)	John Mead	Mary McKay
	💍 1893/3685
BDM Match (63%)	John Benson	Mary Ann McKay
	💍 1893/1126
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman	nil
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mary McKay, Port Chalmers
Folio	93/3829
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Connell, Catholic

14 October 1893

John Smith
Mary Ellen Macfarlane

John Smith
Mary Ellen McFarlane
💍 1893/3703

John Smith
Maud Matilda Snellgrove
💍 1894/651

John Smith
Sarah Anne Newcombe
💍 1893/3630

John Smith
Eliza Thorn
💍 1893/2355

Widower
Widow

House Agent
nil

48
41

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 days
3 days

House of John Smith, Port Chalmers

93/3825

14 October 1893

Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

No	15
Date of Notice	14 October 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Mary Ellen Macfarlane
BDM Match (95%)	John Smith	Mary Ellen McFarlane
	💍 1893/3703
BDM Match (63%)	John Smith	Maud Matilda Snellgrove
	💍 1894/651
BDM Match (62%)	John Smith	Sarah Anne Newcombe
	💍 1893/3630
BDM Match (62%)	John Smith	Eliza Thorn
	💍 1893/2355
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	House Agent	nil
Age	48	41
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of John Smith, Port Chalmers
Folio	93/3825
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

24 October 1893

Henry Charles Stevens
Mary Macalpine

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

24
21

Port Chalmers
Reynolds near Port Chalmers

6 years
6 years

House of The Macalpine

93/3824

24 October 1893

Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

No	16
Date of Notice	24 October 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Stevens	Mary Macalpine
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Reynolds near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	House of The Macalpine
Folio	93/3824
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

24 October 1893

Ronald McTavish Fletcher
Ellen Solomon

Donald McFarlane Fletcher
Ellen Solomon
💍 1893/3704

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
nil

25
21

Port Chalmers
Deborah Bay Port Chalmers

16 years
two years

House of The Solomon

93/3826

24 October 1893

Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

No	17
Date of Notice	24 October 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald McTavish Fletcher	Ellen Solomon
BDM Match (86%)	Donald McFarlane Fletcher	Ellen Solomon
	💍 1893/3704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	nil
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Deborah Bay Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	16 years	two years
Marriage Place	House of The Solomon
Folio	93/3826
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

13 November 1893

Henry Hornby
Henrietta Flynn

Henry Hornby
Henrietta Flynn
💍 1893/3683

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
nil

35
40

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

15 years
20 years

House of Jas. Craig, Port Chalmers

93/3827

Henry Flynn, Father

13 November 1893

Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

No	18
Date of Notice	13 November 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hornby	Henrietta Flynn
	💍 1893/3683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	nil
Age	35	40
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Jas. Craig, Port Chalmers
Folio	93/3827
Consent	Henry Flynn, Father
Date of Certificate	13 November 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Fisher, Congregational

18 December 1893

Sydney Logan Breck
Mary Maria Heriot

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
nil

25
24

Karitane near Port Chalmers
Karitane near Port Chalmers

3 days
14 years

House of Walt. Heriot, Karitane

93/4047

18 December 1893

Rev. W. E. Oliver, Wesleyan

No	19
Date of Notice	18 December 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Logan Breck	Mary Maria Heriot
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	nil
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Karitane near Port Chalmers	Karitane near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Walt. Heriot, Karitane
Folio	93/4047
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Oliver, Wesleyan

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).