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 041

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar Thomas Kirk

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

3 January 1894

Harry de Vere Hunt
Bertha Steadman

Harry de Vere Hunt
Bertha Steadman
💍 1894/263

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

29
24

Kirikiriroa
Hamilton

20 years
4 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Chapel, Hamilton

94/172

3 January 1894

Rev. F. St. Amandoline, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry de Vere Hunt	Bertha Steadman
	💍 1894/263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Kirikiriroa	Hamilton
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Chapel, Hamilton
Folio	94/172
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. St. Amandoline, Roman Catholic

3 January 1894

Thomas John Merson
Marianne Barbara Hammond

Thomas John Merson
Marianne Barbara Hammond
💍 1894/261

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
31

Hamilton
Ngaruawahia

4 days
10 years

In the Office of the Registrar

94/170

3 January 1894

Thomas Kirk, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Merson	Marianne Barbara Hammond
	💍 1894/261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar
Folio	94/170
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Thomas Kirk, Registrar

8 February 1894

Andrew Beary
Elizabeth Bray

Andrew Geary
Elizabeth Gray
💍 1894/264

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner

26
19

Huntly
Huntly

4 years
6 months

Wesleyan Church

94/173

8 February 1894

Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Beary	Elizabeth Bray
BDM Match (92%)	Andrew Geary	Elizabeth Gray
	💍 1894/264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Huntly	Huntly
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	94/173
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

19 February 1894

Charles Waterford Attrill
Harriet Ann Robson

Charles Waterford Attrill
Harriet Ann Robson
💍 1894/160

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

33
20

Huntly
Huntly

8 years
13 years

In the house of Mr. Richard John Attrill at Huntly

94/175

Robert Robson, father of bride

19 February 1894

Rev. John S. Mc. Kinney, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Waterford Attrill	Harriet Ann Robson
	💍 1894/160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Huntly	Huntly
Length of Residence	8 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Richard John Attrill at Huntly
Folio	94/175
Consent	Robert Robson, father of bride
Date of Certificate	19 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John S. Mc. Kinney, Presbyterian

15 March 1894

Henry Booth
Mary Jansey

Henry Booth
Mary Tansey
💍 1894/262

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Ngaruawahia
Hamilton

20 years
5 days

In St. Peter's Church

94/171

15 March 1894

Rev. R. O. C. Begg, Episcopalian

No	5
Date of Notice	15 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Booth	Mary Jansey
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Booth	Mary Tansey
	💍 1894/262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Hamilton
Length of Residence	20 years	5 days
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church
Folio	94/171
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. O. C. Begg, Episcopalian

22 March 1894

James Edwin Judd
Helen Houghton

James Edwin Tidd
Helen Houghton
💍 1894/265

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

22
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

14 years
5 years

In the Wesleyan Church

94/174

22 March 1894

Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

No	6
Date of Notice	22 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edwin Judd	Helen Houghton
BDM Match (94%)	James Edwin Tidd	Helen Houghton
	💍 1894/265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	14 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	94/174
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Thomas, Wesleyan

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).