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 706

District of Quirian Quarter ending 30 June 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
24	19 May 1893	Franck Swallow Martha Ellis	Frank Swallow Martha Ellis 💍 1893/1867	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 25	Quirian Kingsdown	9 years 12 years	residence of Mr. Joseph Ellis. Kingsdown	93/1793		19 May 1893	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft. Wesleyan Minister.
25	22 May 1893	John Plett. Annie Delaney	John Flett Annie Delaney 💍 1893/1876	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	33 27	Quirian Quirian	9 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Chapel. Quirian	93/1778		22 May 1893	Rev. Louis Nurlin. Roman Catholic Clergyman
26	22 May 1893	Thomas Cook Frances Fairbourn	Thomas Cook Frances Fairbourn 💍 1893/1868	Widower Widow	Gardener	66 60	Quirian Quirian	13 years 20 years	residence of Rev. Charles Crisp Brown. Quirian	93/1776		22 May 1893	Rev. Charles Crisp Brown. Baptist Minister.
27	23 May 1893	George Tate Martha Ann Ellis	George Tate Martha Ann Elms 💍 1893/1858 George Tate Hannah Clegg 💍 1893/1841	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	22 21	Beaconsfield Paroara	14 days 18 years	residence of Mr. Robert Ellis. Paroara	93/1784		23 May 1893	Rev. Donald Ross. Presbyterian Minister.
28	25 May 1893	David Marwick Isabella Howley	David Marwick Isabella Howley 💍 1893/1880	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	36 27	Quirian Quirian	4 days 4 days	residence of Mr. David Marwick. King Street. Quirian	93/1782		25 May 1893	Rev. William Gillies. Presbyterian Minister.
29	29 May 1893	Henry Wheeler Kate Ellen Robison	Henry Wheeler Kate Ellen Robinson 💍 1893/4173	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	33 17	Quirian Quirian	20 years 4 years	Wesleyan Church Quirian	93/1794	Mary Ann Robison Mother. Father dead	29 May 1893	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft. Wesleyan Minister.
30	2 June 1893	Hugh Gallen Catherine Sullivan	Hugh Gallen Catherine Sullivan 💍 1893/1877	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	33 23	Quirian Quirian	6 days 16 days	Roman Catholic Chapel. Quirian	93/1779		2 June 1893	Rev. John Gubman. Roman Catholic Clergyman
31	8 June 1893	Thomas Bachop Jane Stevenson Peebles	Thomas Bachop Jane Stevenson Peebles 💍 1893/1865	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 20	Levels Quirian	3 years 3 years	Primitive Methodist Church Quirian	93/1791	Robert Peebles. Father.	8 June 1893	Rev. Frederick W. Boys. Primitive Methodist Minister.
32	10 June 1893	Edward Hannon Tate Mana Mary Wilson	Edward Hannon Tate Mary Maud Wilson 💍 1893/1862	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 24	Albury Albury	3 days 14 days	residence of Mr. Robert Rutherford. Albury	93/1788		10 June 1893	Rev. Stanley Atkinson. Church of England Clergyman
33	12 June 1893	William Neculai Clausen Elizabeth Baker	William Neculai Clausen Elizabeth Baker 💍 1893/1866	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Housemaid	24 24	Quirian Quirian	5 years 16 years	residence of Mr. William Hermann & Clayton. Quirian	93/1799	John Baker Timaru	12 June 1893	Rev. Frederick W. Boys. Primitive Methodist Minister

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).