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 122

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1893

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

20 January 1893

Peter Christian Bak
Mary Elizabeth Hatchins

Peter Christian Bak
Mary Elizabeth Hutchins
💍 1893/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
25

Napier
Napier

2 weeks
10 months

At the Residence of the Bride's father

93/229

20 January 1893

Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	20 January 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Christian Bak	Mary Elizabeth Hatchins
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Christian Bak	Mary Elizabeth Hutchins
	💍 1893/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 weeks	10 months
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Bride's father
Folio	93/229
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

28 January 1893

William Sanders
Charlotte Hendry

William Saunders
Charlotte Hendry
💍 1893/1078

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

21
24

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 years

At the Residence of Henry Callingham

93/227

28 January 1893

Rev. J. W. Worboys, Free Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	28 January 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sanders	Charlotte Hendry
BDM Match (97%)	William Saunders	Charlotte Hendry
	💍 1893/1078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Henry Callingham
Folio	93/227
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Worboys, Free Methodist

2 February 1893

William Foster
Catherine Ada Dally

William Foster
Catherine Ada Daley
💍 1893/89

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

38
30

Port Ahuriri
Napier

3 years
5 years

Presbyterian Manse, Napier

93/932

2 February 1893

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	2 February 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Foster	Catherine Ada Dally
BDM Match (97%)	William Foster	Catherine Ada Daley
	💍 1893/89
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Napier
Folio	93/932
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

6 February 1893

James Charles Paget
Frances Starkey

James Charles Paget
Frances Starkey
💍 1893/90

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab driver

34
22

Napier
Napier

5 years
18 years

Residence of Mrs. J. Starkey, Hastings St.

93/933

6 February 1893

Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	6 February 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Paget	Frances Starkey
	💍 1893/90
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab driver
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. J. Starkey, Hastings St.
Folio	93/933
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

8 February 1893

William Douglas Lysnar
Ada Eleanor Tiffen

William Douglas Lysnar
Ida Eleanor Tiffen
💍 1893/3941

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

26
27

Gisborne
Napier

14 years
27 years

All Saints Church, Gisborne

93/230

8 February 1893

Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	8 February 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Douglas Lysnar	Ada Eleanor Tiffen
BDM Match (97%)	William Douglas Lysnar	Ida Eleanor Tiffen
	💍 1893/3941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Napier
Length of Residence	14 years	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Gisborne
Folio	93/230
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

13 February 1893

John Sinclair
Helen Christina Bicknell

John Sinclair
Helen Christina Bickwell
💍 1893/1086

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
27

Puketapu
Puketapu

4 years
20 years

Residence of the Bride's mother

93/231

13 February 1893

Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	13 February 1893
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sinclair	Helen Christina Bicknell
BDM Match (98%)	John Sinclair	Helen Christina Bickwell
	💍 1893/1086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Puketapu
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Bride's mother
Folio	93/231
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1893
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Duke, Church of England

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).