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 122

District of Waitara Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar J. D. Sivell, Deputy Registrar

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 January 1894

Harry Albert Eason
Alice Maud Mary Pennington

Harry Albert Eason
Alice Maud Mary Pennington
💍 1894/210

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

30
23

Waitara
Waitara

4 days
4 years

In house of J. Pennington, Waitara

94/259

15 January 1894

Rev. J. J. Baker

No	95
Date of Notice	15 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Albert Eason	Alice Maud Mary Pennington
	💍 1894/210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In house of J. Pennington, Waitara
Folio	94/259
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Baker

20 January 1894

John Willison
May Lewis

John Willison
May Lewis
💍 1894/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Waitara
Waitara

23 years
12 months

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waitara

94/262

20 January 1894

Registrar of Marriages, Waitara

No	96
Date of Notice	20 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Willison	May Lewis
	💍 1894/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	23 years	12 months
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waitara
Folio	94/262
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Waitara

20 February 1894

Arend Hinrich Hermann Seekamp
Marie Annie Treweek

Arena Henrich Hermann Seekamp
Marie Annie Trewick
💍 1894/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer

24
25

Waitara
Waitara

4 days
6 days

In the Church of England, Waitara

94/260

20 February 1894

Rev. J. J. Baker

No	97
Date of Notice	20 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arend Hinrich Hermann Seekamp	Marie Annie Treweek
BDM Match (91%)	Arena Henrich Hermann Seekamp	Marie Annie Trewick
	💍 1894/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	In the Church of England, Waitara
Folio	94/260
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Baker

28 February 1894

Charles Augustus Rumbal
Arabella Louisa Gibson

Charles Augustus Rumbal
Arabella Louisa Gibson
💍 1894/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
19

Urenui Waitara
Urenui Waitara

12 months
6 years

In the house of Lewis Martin Gibson of Urenui Waitara

94/261

28 February 1894

Rev. J. J. Baker

No	98
Date of Notice	28 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Augustus Rumbal	Arabella Louisa Gibson
	💍 1894/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Urenui Waitara	Urenui Waitara
Length of Residence	12 months	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Lewis Martin Gibson of Urenui Waitara
Folio	94/261
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Baker

14 March 1894

William James Day Hamblyn
Nina May Carrick

William James Day Hamblyn
Nina May Carrick
💍 1894/209

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
24

Waitara
Waitara

3 days
24 years

In the house of Mr. Carrick, Waitara

94/258

14 March 1894

Rev. J. J. Jones

No	99
Date of Notice	14 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Day Hamblyn	Nina May Carrick
	💍 1894/209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Carrick, Waitara
Folio	94/258
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Jones

100

21 March 1894

Francis Peacock Corkill
Francis Hannah Armstrong

Francis Peacock Corkill
Frances Hannah Armstrong
💍 1894/1225

Widower
Spinster

Land Agent

34
27

New Plymouth
Tikorangi Waitara

14 years
24 years

In the house of Capt. Armstrong, Tikorangi Waitara

94/290

21 March 1894

Rev. J. J. Baker

No	100
Date of Notice	21 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Peacock Corkill	Francis Hannah Armstrong
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Peacock Corkill	Frances Hannah Armstrong
	💍 1894/1225
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Tikorangi Waitara
Length of Residence	14 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Capt. Armstrong, Tikorangi Waitara
Folio	94/290
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Baker

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).