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 974

District of Wellington 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
260	16 August 1893	Edward Croxford James McInnes	Edward Mexted Jane McInnes 💍 1893/2518	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	19 19	Porirua Melrose	1 year	House of Geo. Jones, South Wellington	93/2411	John Jones, Father	16 August 1893	Rev. G. Challaston
261	17 August 1893	Henry William Fisk Eliza Ralph	Henry William Fisk Eliza Ralph 💍 1893/2240	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 31	Lower Hutt Petone	4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2378		17 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
262	18 August 1893	Walter Samuel Langley Mary Fullerton	William Samuel Langley Mary Anderson 💍 1893/2241	Bachelor Widow	Labour	33 33	Wellington Wellington	3 days	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2379		18 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
263	18 August 1893	Robert Howe Eveline Allen	Robert Howe Eveline Allen 💍 1893/2519	Bachelor Spinster	Presser	28 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	93/2412		18 August 1893	Rev. G. Challaston
264	19 August 1893	Edward Martin Mary Annie Gadsby	Edward Martin Mary Annie Gadsby 💍 1893/2242	Widower Spinster	Flour Miller	37 34	Wellington Wellington	3 weeks	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2380		19 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
265	19 August 1893	Robert Ernest Flow Gertrude Ethel Woodward	Robert Ernest Flaws Gertrude Ethel Woodward 💍 1893/2502	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	25 21	Kaiwarra Kaiwarra	1 year	House of Bridegroom, Kaiwarra	93/2419		19 August 1893	Rev. R. J. Murray
266	19 August 1893	Alfred Inigo Suckling Amy Florence Emmett	Alfred Irigo Suckling Baron Amy Florence Emmer 💍 1893/2522	Bachelor Spinster	Electric Engineer	30 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	93/2415		19 August 1893	Rev. Joshua Jones
267	21 August 1893	James Barlow Caroline Turner	James Barlow Caroline Turner 💍 1893/2874	Widower Spinster	Grocer	50 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	House of Bridegroom, Taranaki Street	93/2976		21 August 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
268	22 August 1893	Albert Edwards Sarah Guilford	Albert Edwards Sarah Guilford 💍 1893/2243	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 21	Wellington Wellington	1 week	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2381		22 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
269	22 August 1893	Thomas Matheson Minnie Potter	Donald Matheson Minnie Potter 💍 1893/2875	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 28	Wellington Wellington	6 days	St. John's Church, Dixon Street	93/2977		22 August 1893	H. Eliott, Rev. J. Paterson
270	23 August 1893	David Shields Christina Chambers	David Shiels Christina Chambers 💍 1893/2876	Bachelor Widow	Commercial Traveller	46 31	Wellington Wellington	5 days 4 months	St. John's Church, Dixon Street	93/2978		23 August 1893	Rev. J. Paterson
271	23 August 1893	Robert Ormerod Crowther Agnes Freeman	Robert Ormond Crowther Agnes Freeman 💍 1893/2244	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	26 32	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2382		23 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
272	24 August 1893	James Gardiner Adelaide Jane Russell	James Gardiner Adelaide Jane Russell 💍 1893/2245	Bachelor Spinster	Labour	21 18	Wellington Wellington	1 year	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2383	Mrs. Mahata Russell, Mother	24 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt
273	24 August 1893	Alexander Scholes Cathleen Margaret Ferguson	Alexander Scholes Cathleen Margaret Ferguson 💍 1893/2214	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Lower Hutt Wellington	4 years 3 weeks	House of Harper, College Street	93/2403		24 August 1893	Rev. J. K. Elliott
274	25 August 1893	James Bagust Margaret Ellen Cornelius	James Bagust Margaret Ellen Cornelius 💍 1893/2207	Bachelor Spinster		27 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years	Registrars office, Wellington	93/2384		25 August 1893	W. L. Wyatt

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).