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 572

District of Masterton 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
25	2 May 1893	Martin Kerrines Catherine Grealish	Martin Kerins Kate Grealish 💍 1893/2797	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Servant	36 24	Masterton Masterton	4 days 12 Months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	93/2841		2 May 1893	Rev. John O'Meara, Roman Catholic Priest
26	9 May 1893	George Harold Smith Alice Emandene Meredith	George Harold Smith Elsie Emmeline Meredith 💍 1893/1328	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	26 25	Masterton Upper Plain Masterton	3 days 1 Month	Church of England, Masterton	93/1270		9 May 1893	Rev. W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
27	9 May 1893	William Bray Lydia Maud Welch	William Bray Lydia Maud Welch 💍 1893/1327	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	27 23	Pahiatua Masterton	6 Months 3 Months	Church of England, Pahiatua	93/1269		9 May 1893	Rev. W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
28	27 May 1893	Robert Nicol Sarah Eliza Jane Campbell	Robert Nicol Sarah Eliza June Campbell 💍 1893/1415	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 26	Masterton Opaki	3 days 12 Months	House of Mr Campbell, Opaki	93/1258		27 May 1893	Rev. Robert Nicol, Presbyterian Minister
29	30 May 1893	John Strang Jessie McPhee	John Strang Jessie McPhee 💍 1893/1324	Widower Spinster	Sheepfarmer	38 26	Gladstone Masterton	10 years 6 days	House of Mr Wood, Upper Plain	93/1265		30 May 1893	Rev. Charles Murray, Presbyterian Minister
30	2 June 1893	Alfred Capon Lizzie Short	Alfred Capon Lizzie Chant 💍 1893/1323	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	25 20	Kuripuni Kuripuni	9 Months 9 Months	House of Mr Coles, Kuripuni	93/1264	Father of Bride, 27 days	16 June 1893	Rev. John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
31	5 June 1893	Thomas Hawke Annie Hands Hear	Thomas Hawke Annie Amelia Hoar 💍 1893/1317	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	25 22	Masterton Masterton	1 Month 2 Months	Wesleyan Church, Masterton	93/1263		5 June 1893	Rev. John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
32	26 June 1893	Frederick James Dann Annie Elizabeth Cooper	Frederick James Dunn Annie Elizabeth Cooper 💍 1893/1329	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 25	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 Months	Church of England, Masterton	93/1271		26 June 1893	Rev. W. E. Paige, Church of England Minister
33	29 June 1893	Edward Turner Agnes Mortison	Edward Turner Agnes Robertson 💍 1893/3977	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	24 27	Te Ore Ore Masterton	6 Months 2 years	Registry Office, Masterton	93/1267		29 June 1893	John Bagge, Registrar

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).