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 105

District of Inglewood Quarter ending 31 March 1894

No	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
178	2 January 1894	Henry Marriott Payne Norah Mary Newland	Henry Marriott Payne Norah Mary Neuland 💍 1894/1982	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	24 23	Inglewood Inglewood	3 days 5 years	The Church of England at Inglewood	94/2119		2 January 1894	Rev. A. English
179	9 January 1894	Thomas Harry King Betsy Ann Longstaff	Thomas Urry Betsy Ann Longstaff 💍 1894/334	Bachelor Spinster	Engine driver	29 20	Inglewood Inglewood	17 years 7 years	The residence of Mr. John King	94/224	Hannah King, mother of Betsy Ann Longstaff	9 January 1894	Rev. T. J. Jones
180	19 January 1894	George Henry Walker Annie Henrietta Laing	George Henry Walker Annie Henrietta Laing 💍 1894/193	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	21 18	Moa District Inglewood	2 years 7 years	The Registry Office at Inglewood	94/227	father of Annie Henrietta Laing	19 January 1894	Robert Stevens
181	30 January 1894	James Smith Alice Clara Heal	James Smith Alice Clara Heal 💍 1894/184	Bachelor Spinster	Millhand	22 19	Inglewood Inglewood	3 days 2 years	The residence of Mr. Heal, Inglewood	94/225	Louisa Heal, mother of Alice Clara Heal	30 January 1894	Rev. T. J. Jones
182	10 February 1894	Frederick Gilbert Dombrowski Martha Dombrowski	Frederick Gilbert Martha Dombrowski 💍 1894/795	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	27 20	Inglewood Moa District	3 Days 14 years	The Roman Catholic Church at Inglewood	94/1778	Joseph Dombrowski, father of Martha Dombrowski	10 February 1894	Rev. Jas. McKenna
183	3 March 1894	Richard Hollin Amelia Jane Barron	Richard Hollis Amelia Jane Barran 💍 1894/192	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 19	Moa District Moa District	17 years 19 years	The residence of Mr. J. Barron, Mountain Road, Moa District	94/226	John Barron, father of Amelia Jane Barron	3 March 1894	Rev. T. J. Jones
184	10 March 1894	William Henry Paynter Charlotte Mary Herbert	William Henry Paynter Charlotte Mary Herbert 💍 1894/194	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 21	Moa District Inglewood	3 days 3 days	The Registry Office at Inglewood	94/228		10 March 1894	Rob. Stevens

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).