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 037

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar W. A. Barlow

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

765

2 January 1894

John Henry Webb
Edith Ellen Maria Lewis

John Henry Webb
Edith Ellen Maria Lewis
💍 1894/256

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

27 years
20 years

Gisborne
Mangapapa

2 months
7 years

Residence of Thomas Stephen Lewis, Mangapapa

94/166

Thomas Stephen Lewis, father of the said Edith Ellen Maria Lewis

2 January 1894

Rev. Thomas A. Griffin, Wesleyan Minister

No	765
Date of Notice	2 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Webb	Edith Ellen Maria Lewis
	💍 1894/256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Mangapapa
Length of Residence	2 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Stephen Lewis, Mangapapa
Folio	94/166
Consent	Thomas Stephen Lewis, father of the said Edith Ellen Maria Lewis
Date of Certificate	2 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas A. Griffin, Wesleyan Minister

766

27 January 1894

John Burbery Evinson
Emma Maude Evinson

John Burbery
Emma Maude Erinson
💍 1894/1011

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

30 years
27 years

Waerenga-a-hika
Te Karaka

9 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

94/1070

27 January 1894

Rev. A. W. Webb, Church of England Minister

No	766
Date of Notice	27 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burbery Evinson	Emma Maude Evinson
BDM Match (77%)	John Burbery	Emma Maude Erinson
	💍 1894/1011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	30 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Waerenga-a-hika	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	94/1070
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Webb, Church of England Minister

767

20 January 1894

George Winduss Morrow
Maude Madaline Morrow

George Winduss
Jane Madeline Morrow
💍 1894/258

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

23 years
23 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 months
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

94/168

20 January 1894

The Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian Minister

No	767
Date of Notice	20 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Winduss Morrow	Maude Madaline Morrow
BDM Match (74%)	George Winduss	Jane Madeline Morrow
	💍 1894/258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	94/168
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1894
Officiating Minister	The Rev. R. M. Ryburn, Presbyterian Minister

768

30 January 1894

John McIntosh McKenzie
Elizabeth Haddow Whyte

John Macintosh Mackenzie
Elizabeth Haddon Whyte
💍 1894/349

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
None

30 years
29 years

Parika
Abbotsford

5 years
3 years

Residence of David Whyte, Abbotsford

94/306

30 January 1894

The Rev. W. Raeburn, Presbyterian Minister

No	768
Date of Notice	30 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McIntosh McKenzie	Elizabeth Haddow Whyte
BDM Match (89%)	John Macintosh Mackenzie	Elizabeth Haddon Whyte
	💍 1894/349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	None
Age	30 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Parika	Abbotsford
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Whyte, Abbotsford
Folio	94/306
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1894
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. Raeburn, Presbyterian Minister

769

20 February 1894

George William Mackie
Mary Pierce

George William Markie
Mary Pierce
💍 1894/1892

Bachelor
Spinster

Stableman
Domestic Servant

21 years
21 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
13 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

94/2024

20 February 1894

W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	769
Date of Notice	20 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Mackie	Mary Pierce
BDM Match (98%)	George William Markie	Mary Pierce
	💍 1894/1892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stableman	Domestic Servant
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	94/2024
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1894
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barlow, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).