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 128

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

1 January 1894

Donald Archibald McLean
Elizabeth McFarlane

Donald Archibald McLean
Elizabeth MacFarlane
💍 1894/217

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer

39
37

Maraekakaho
Maraekakaho

7 years
2 months

at the residence of D. McLean, Maraekakaho

94/265

1 January 1894

Rev. R. Fraser

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Archibald McLean	Elizabeth McFarlane
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Archibald McLean	Elizabeth MacFarlane
	💍 1894/217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer
Age	39	37
Dwelling Place	Maraekakaho	Maraekakaho
Length of Residence	7 years	2 months
Marriage Place	at the residence of D. McLean, Maraekakaho
Folio	94/265
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fraser

10 January 1894

John Twigg
Alberta Young

John Twigg
Alberta Young
💍 1894/2055

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

25
32

Hastings
Napier

5 months
2 years

Cathedral, Napier

94/2099

10 January 1894

Rev. D. R. Horell

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Twigg	Alberta Young
	💍 1894/2055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	25	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Cathedral, Napier
Folio	94/2099
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Horell

23 January 1894

Alfred Baker
Elizabeth Steel

Alfred Baker
Elizabeth Steel
💍 1894/273

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
22

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
6 months

in the house of James Steel, Hastings

94/266

23 January 1894

Rev. W. Elliott

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Baker	Elizabeth Steel
	💍 1894/273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	in the house of James Steel, Hastings
Folio	94/266
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Elliott

7 February 1894

Joseph Sampson Palmer
Alice Struter

Joseph Sampson Palmer
Alice Streeter
💍 1894/285

Bachelor
Spinster

Herbalist

21
22

Hastings
Hastings

5 months
1 month

at the home of James Palmer, Hastings

94/268

7 February 1894

Rev. W. Elliott

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Sampson Palmer	Alice Struter
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Sampson Palmer	Alice Streeter
	💍 1894/285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Herbalist
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 months	1 month
Marriage Place	at the home of James Palmer, Hastings
Folio	94/268
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Elliott

16 March 1894

William Coleman
Agnes Jane Eaton

William Coleman
Agnes Jane Eaton
💍 1894/286

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
26

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
1 year

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

94/269

16 March 1894

Rev. A. G. Foote

No	5
Date of Notice	16 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Coleman	Agnes Jane Eaton
	💍 1894/286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	94/269
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Foote

21 March 1894

Alfred Edward Clarke
Caroline Beatrice Cheesman

Alfred Edward Clarke
Caroline Beatrice Cheer
💍 1894/287

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

25
23

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
23 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

94/270

21 March 1894

Rev. John Hobbs

No	6
Date of Notice	21 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Clarke	Caroline Beatrice Cheesman
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Edward Clarke	Caroline Beatrice Cheer
	💍 1894/287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	94/270
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hobbs

31 March 1894

Hugh Gilhooly
Margaret Collopy

Hugh Gilhooly
Margaret Collopy
💍 1894/4047

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

31
29

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

94/2174

31 March 1894

Rev. Father Smythe

No	7
Date of Notice	31 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Gilhooly	Margaret Collopy
	💍 1894/4047
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	94/2174
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Smythe

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).