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 083

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar John Thomson

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

257

6 January 1894

Daniel Donovan
Agnes McKee

Daniel Donovan
Agnes McKee
💍 1894/169

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

41 years
33 years

Rangiruru
Paengaroa

15 years
1 1/2 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Tauranga

94/192

6 January 1894

Rev. Thomas Kehoe, Roman Catholic Clergyman

No	257
Date of Notice	6 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Donovan	Agnes McKee
	💍 1894/169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	41 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiruru	Paengaroa
Length of Residence	15 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Tauranga
Folio	94/192
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Kehoe, Roman Catholic Clergyman

258

10 January 1894

David Hall
Charlotte Brown

David Hall
Charlotte Brown
💍 1894/170

Bachelor
Spinster

Pound Keeper
Nil

39 years
36 years

Tauranga
Tauranga

16 years
36 years

The Dwelling House of S. Hall, Tauranga

94/193

10 January 1894

Staff Captain Edwards, Salvation Army

No	258
Date of Notice	10 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hall	Charlotte Brown
	💍 1894/170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pound Keeper	Nil
Age	39 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	16 years	36 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling House of S. Hall, Tauranga
Folio	94/193
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Staff Captain Edwards, Salvation Army

259

12 January 1894

Samuel David Murray Morrow
Elizabeth Rea

Samuel David McMurray Morrow
Elizabeth Rea
💍 1894/172

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Nil

23 years
22 years

Katikati
Katikati

4 years
17 years

The Dwelling House of S. Rea at Katikati

94/194

12 January 1894

Rev. W. Katterns, Church of England Minister

No	259
Date of Notice	12 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel David Murray Morrow	Elizabeth Rea
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel David McMurray Morrow	Elizabeth Rea
	💍 1894/172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Nil
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Katikati	Katikati
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling House of S. Rea at Katikati
Folio	94/194
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Katterns, Church of England Minister

260

7 March 1894

Robert Duthill
Alice Jane Litchfield

Robert Tuthill
Alice Jane Litchfield
💍 1894/173

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

42 years
23 years

Greerton
Tauranga

12 years
9 days

Trinity Church, Church of England, Tauranga

94/195

7 March 1894

Rev. C. Jordan, Church of England Clergyman

No	260
Date of Notice	7 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Duthill	Alice Jane Litchfield
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Tuthill	Alice Jane Litchfield
	💍 1894/173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	42 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Greerton	Tauranga
Length of Residence	12 years	9 days
Marriage Place	Trinity Church, Church of England, Tauranga
Folio	94/195
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Jordan, Church of England Clergyman

261

9 March 1894

William Henry George Allely
Kate Robinson

William Henry George Allely
Kate Robinson
💍 1894/174

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor Assistant
Household duties

23 years
23 years

Tauranga
Tauranga

15 years
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Tauranga

94/196

9 March 1894

Rev. Thos. Scott, Presbyterian Minister

No	261
Date of Notice	9 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry George Allely	Kate Robinson
	💍 1894/174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor Assistant	Household duties
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tauranga
Folio	94/196
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Scott, Presbyterian Minister

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).