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 013

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar S. 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

15 February 1894

Joseph Gearbury
Minnie Augusta White

Joseph Yearbury
Minnie Augusta White
💍 1894/313

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

26
24

Auckland
Auckland

17 years
24 years

House of Mrs. White, Ponsonby

94/82

15 February 1894

Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

No	71
Date of Notice	15 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Gearbury	Minnie Augusta White
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Yearbury	Minnie Augusta White
	💍 1894/313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	17 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. White, Ponsonby
Folio	94/82
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws, Wesleyan

15 February 1894

John Frederick Stewart
Elizabeth Mary Ann Donkin

John Frederick Stewart
Elizabeth Mary Ann Donkin
💍 1894/1095

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

28
26

Auckland
Auckland

28 years

All Saints Church

94/1030

15 February 1894

Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

No	72
Date of Notice	15 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Stewart	Elizabeth Mary Ann Donkin
	💍 1894/1095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	94/1030
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

16 February 1894

William Francis Connolly
Eveline Mona Hargrave

William Francis Connelly
Eveline Mona Hargrave
💍 1894/241

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

29
22

Auckland
Auckland

29 years
22 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

94/28

16 February 1894

Rev. S. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

No	73
Date of Notice	16 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Connolly	Eveline Mona Hargrave
BDM Match (98%)	William Francis Connelly	Eveline Mona Hargrave
	💍 1894/241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	29 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	94/28
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Hackett, Roman Catholic

16 February 1894

Joseph Edwin Dalton
Margaret Dalton

Joseph Edwin Dalton
Margaret Dalton
💍 1894/99

Thomas Lewis Saulbrey
Margaret Dalton
💍 1894/4170

Widower
Spinster

Native Agent

41
28

Imparoa
Imparoa

10 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

94/121

16 February 1894

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	16 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edwin Dalton	Margaret Dalton
	💍 1894/99
BDM Match (64%)	Thomas Lewis Saulbrey	Margaret Dalton
	💍 1894/4170
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Native Agent
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Imparoa	Imparoa
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/121
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1894
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

17 February 1894

George Smith
Alice McDonald

George Smith
Alice McDonald
💍 1894/100

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
15 years

Registrar's Office

94/122

17 February 1894

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	75
Date of Notice	17 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Alice McDonald
	💍 1894/100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1894
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

17 February 1894

Arthur Graham Caduceus
Amy Eyles

Widower
Spinster

Manufacturer

42
23

Avondale
Avondale

9 years
5 years

Registrar's Office

94/123

17 February 1894

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	76
Date of Notice	17 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Graham Caduceus	Amy Eyles
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer
Age	42	23
Dwelling Place	Avondale	Avondale
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1894
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

19 February 1894

John Kennerley
Hephzibah Brown

John Kennerley
Hephzibah Newman
💍 1894/153

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

24
23

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
18 years

Registrar's Office

94/127

19 February 1894

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	77
Date of Notice	19 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kennerley	Hephzibah Brown
BDM Match (84%)	John Kennerley	Hephzibah Newman
	💍 1894/153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/127
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1894
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, 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 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).