Intentions to Marry, 1894

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840406, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 6 2025

Page 009

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar E. H. Lyons

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

23 January 1894

Francis William Pyne
Bertha Faith Picken

Francis William Pyne
Bertha Faith Picken
💍 1894/235

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

27
22

Pokino
Auckland

3 years
22 years

St. Sepulchre Church

94/46

23 January 1894

Rev. Mr. Kirkbride, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Pyne	Bertha Faith Picken
	💍 1894/235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Pokino	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre Church
Folio	94/46
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Kirkbride, Church of England

24 January 1894

Albert Spencer Bowring
Alice Louise Bowring

Albert Spencer
Alice Louise Bowring
💍 1894/1093

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

27
27

Auckland
Tonsonby

All Saints Church

94/1028

24 January 1894

Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	24 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Spencer Bowring	Alice Louise Bowring
BDM Match (82%)	Albert Spencer	Alice Louise Bowring
	💍 1894/1093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Tonsonby
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	94/1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

25 January 1894

Moses Saber
Eleanor Gerberg Orchard

Moss Saber
Eleanor Yerbury Orchard
💍 1894/89

Divorced
Spinster

Clerk

43
38

Devonport
Auckland

15 years
15 years

Registrars Office

94/112

25 January 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	25 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moses Saber	Eleanor Gerberg Orchard
BDM Match (89%)	Moss Saber	Eleanor Yerbury Orchard
	💍 1894/89
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	94/112
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

25 January 1894

Alfred Ernest Hill
Laura Frances Clarke

Alfred Ernest Hill
Laura Frances Clarke
💍 1894/237

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

40
35

Auckland
Auckland

5 weeks
15 years

St. Sepulchre Church

94/47

25 January 1894

Rev. Arch. M. N. de L. Lillie, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	25 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Hill	Laura Frances Clarke
	💍 1894/237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 weeks	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre Church
Folio	94/47
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. M. N. de L. Lillie, Church of England

25 January 1894

Albert Ernest Grindrod
Lily Reynolds

Albert Ernest Grindrod
Lily Reynolds
💍 1894/254

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor, Clerk

27
23

Auckland
Bombay

14 years
9 years

House of R. A. Reynolds, Drury

94/164

25 January 1894

Rev. E. John Garland, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	25 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Grindrod	Lily Reynolds
	💍 1894/254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor, Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Bombay
Length of Residence	14 years	9 years
Marriage Place	House of R. A. Reynolds, Drury
Folio	94/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. John Garland, Church of England

26 January 1894

William Remus
Elizabeth Cain

William Rennie
Elizabeth Cain
💍 1894/71

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

38
32

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
32 years

St. Benedict Church

94/68

26 January 1894

Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

No	48
Date of Notice	26 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Remus	Elizabeth Cain
BDM Match (86%)	William Rennie	Elizabeth Cain
	💍 1894/71
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict Church
Folio	94/68
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic

27 January 1894

Thomas O'Carroll
Anastasia O'Sullivan

Thomas O'Carroll
Anastasia O'Sullivan
💍 1894/117

Thomas O'Carroll
Anastasia OSullivan
💍 1892/3835

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
20

Whangarei
Auckland

25 years
12 years

St. John Baptist Church

94/16

Father

27 January 1894

Rev. C. J. Lenihan, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	27 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Carroll	Anastasia O'Sullivan
	💍 1894/117
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas O'Carroll	Anastasia OSullivan
	💍 1892/3835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. John Baptist Church
Folio	94/16
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Lenihan, Roman Catholic

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).