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 186

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
46	10 February 1893	Frederick Stowe Wood Annie Laws	Frederick Stowe Wood Seon Annie Laws 💍 1893/1122	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 26	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars office Wellington	93/431		10 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
47	10 February 1893	John Max Walter Paulina Elizabeth Rother	John Max Walter Paulina Elizabeth Rother 💍 1893/967	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	39 20	Wellington Wellington	13 months 13 months	House of Mrs Rother Abel Smith Street	93/364	Paulina Rother mother	10 February 1893	Revd. W. H. Beck
48	11 February 1893	Joseph Tideswell Ann Harriet Marsh	Joseph Tidswell Ann Harriet Marsh 💍 1893/1124	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars office Wellington	93/432		11 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
49	13 February 1893	Thomas Jackson Pinfold Caroline Frances Jones	Thomas Jackson Pinkney Caroline Frances Jones 💍 1893/1125	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	29 22	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrars office Wellington	93/433		13 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
50	13 February 1893	John Benson Mary Ann McKay	John Benson Mary Ann McKay 💍 1893/1126 John Mead Mary McKay 💍 1893/3685	Bachelor Spinster		31 27	Wellington Wellington	1 year 2 months	Registrars office Wellington	93/434		13 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
51	16 February 1893	Ault Glohe Frederica Marie Rahbehm		Bachelor Spinster		29 27	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrars office Wellington	93/435		16 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
52	17 February 1893	Edward Francis Shuckey Maggie Welsh	Edward Francis Stuckey Maggie Walsh 💍 1893/1128	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	22 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	93/436		17 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
53	18 February 1893	Frank Perkin Mary Jane Warm	Frank Parkin Mary Jane Warn 💍 1893/1137	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	93/438		18 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
54	18 February 1893	Julius Lamberg Sarah Summerhays Lunky	Julius Lamberg Sarah Turner McCarthy 💍 1893/1129	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	93/437		18 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
55	20 February 1893	Peter Fraser Janet Douglas	Peter Fraser Janet Douglas 💍 1893/971	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 21	Wellington Wellington	years 10 months	House of Mrs Leonard Dixon Street	93/368		20 February 1893	Revd. J. Paterson
56	20 February 1893	Archibald Campbell Sarah Jane Murray	Archibald Campbell Sarah Jane Murray 💍 1893/1012	Bachelor Spinster	Lithographic Printer	27 26	Wellington Adelaide Road	years 1 month	House of Mr Campbell Adelaide Road	93/412		20 February 1893	Revd. J. K. Elliot
57	21 February 1893	Frederick Vincent Rutherford Eleanor Allshead	Frederick Ernest Rutherford Eleanor Adshead 💍 1893/975	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	31 32	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. James Presbyterian Church	93/371		21 February 1893	Revd. Wm. Shirer
58	24 February 1893	Augustus Samuel Biss Millicent Maud George	Augustus Samuel Biss Millicent Maud George 💍 1893/1183	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	28 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church	93/384		24 February 1893	Revd. R. Coffey
59	24 February 1893	Harry John Matthews Matilda Gardner	Harry John Matthews Matilda Gardner 💍 1893/1148	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 25	Wellington Karori	years years	Registrars office Wellington	93/439		24 February 1893	W. I. Wyay
60	27 February 1893	Ceasar Charles Wanters Josephine James		Bachelor Spinster	Cook	32 42	Wellington Wellington	4 months years	Registrars office Wellington	93/440		27 February 1893	W. I. Wyay

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).