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 1428

District of Wellington 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
359	15 November 1893	Joseph Bonzer Mary Elizabeth Pearse	Joseph Bowyer Mary Elizabeth Pearse 💍 1893/647	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	32 21	Upper Hutt Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/3423		15 November 1893	W. I. Wyall
360	17 November 1893	William Monder Frances Jane Jones	William Wounter Frances Jane Jones 💍 1893/3880	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	24 24	Wellington Wellington	7 months 3 days	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	93/3396		17 November 1893	Rev. R. J. Murray
361	18 November 1893	Robert McKay Mamon Margaret Elizabeth Clark	Robert McKay Manson Margaret Elizabeth Clark 💍 1893/3517	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Kaiwara Wellington	1 year 9 months	St. Pauls Cathedral	93/3904		18 November 1893	Rev. J. H. Sprott
362	18 November 1893	John Barrett Elizabeth Hughes	John Barrett Elizabeth Hughes 💍 1893/648	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	35 45	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/3424		18 November 1893	W. I. Wyall
363	20 November 1893	George William Clark Norah Maud Stagg	George William Clout Norah Maud Stagg 💍 1893/3498	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 20	Lower Hutt Wellington	years 1 year	St. Pauls Cathedral	93/3907	Emily Which, Guardian	20 November 1893	Rev. J. H. Sprott
364	21 November 1893	John Shepherd Margaret Biggs	John Shepherd Margaret Biggs 💍 1893/3885	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	37 29	Wellington Wellington	years 6 months	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/3425		21 November 1893	W. I. Wyall
365	22 November 1893	John Gustavus Jacobson Mary Elfricia Cork	John Gustavus Jacobson Mary Elfreda Cook 💍 1893/3599	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	23 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/3890		22 November 1893	W. I. Wyall
366	22 November 1893	Albert Wilson Edith Frances Gaston	Albert Wilson Edith Frances Gaston 💍 1893/3320	Bachelor Spinster	Agent	21 28	Wellington Wellington	5 days 14 days	House of Mr. Richards, Evelyn Place	93/3393		22 November 1893	Rev. J. J. Lewis
367	23 November 1893	Charles Edward Hannan Charlotte Matilda Needham	Charles Edward Hannam Charlotte Matilda Needham 💍 1893/3518	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	93/3905		23 November 1893	Rev. J. H. Sprott
368	25 November 1893	William Adolphus Green Elizabeth Hughes	William Adolphus Craven Elizabeth Hughes 💍 1893/3190	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 20	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 year	Salvation Army Barracks, Taranaki Street	93/3400		25 November 1893	Mr. J. E. Vince
369	25 November 1893	Berthen Hinge Sarah Chapman	Berthen Hinge Sarah Chapman 💍 1893/3886	Bachelor Spinster	Wire Mattress Maker	22 23	Wellington Wellington	18 months 12 years	Registrars Office, Wellington	93/3426		25 November 1893	W. I. Wyall
370	27 November 1893	Charles Nee Margaret Beaven	Charles Nee Margaret Bevan 💍 1893/3149	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 24	Wellington Wellington	4 days 14 days	St. Mary of the Angels	93/3359		27 November 1893	Very Revd. J. Every
371	28 November 1893	George Granville Jonathan Elizabeth Ann Stevens	George Grenville Jonathan Elizabeth Ann Stevens 💍 1893/3308	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Porirua Porirua	9 months years	Primitive Methodist Church, Porirua	93/3373	George Stevens, father	28 November 1893	Revd. Samuel Barnett
372	28 November 1893	James Queen Margaret Ann Arnold	James Quinn Margaret Ann Arnold 💍 1893/3881	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Guard	27 23	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	93/3399		28 November 1893	Revd. John Lane
373	28 November 1893	Harry Yelverton Going Marion Hazlewood Pepysent		Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	62 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	93/3908		28 November 1893	Revd. J. H. Sprott

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).