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 170

District of Masterton 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
1	2 January 1894	Carl August Earnest Vollheim Anelle Andricksen	Carl August Ernest Vollheim Anette Andricksen 💍 1894/377	Bachelor Spinster	Bookmaker Servant	23 21	Masterton Masterton	10 years 1 year	in the house of Mr Peter Hunter, Chapel Street, Kuripuni	94/342		2 January 1894	Rev John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
2	2 January 1894	John Chapman Andrew Junr Jessie Isabella Morrison	John Chapman Andrew Jessie Isabella Morrison 💍 1894/387	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister	28 21	Masterton Blairloque	1 week 15 years	in the house of Mrs Jessie Morrison, Blairloque	94/346		2 January 1894	Rev John Chapman Andrew, Church of England Minister
3	11 January 1894	Herman Richard William Holsteen-Ellen Margaret Jensigne Larsen	Herman Richard William Holstein Ellen Margaret Jensigne Larsen 💍 1894/369	Bachelor Spinster	Seller Dressmaker	35 29	Mauriceville Mauriceville	15 Months 12 Months	Lutheran Church	94/352		11 January 1894	Rev C Christenson, Lutheran Minister
4	18 January 1894	Thomas Scott Sarah Wolstenholme	Thomas Scott Sarah Wolstenholme 💍 1894/388	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Laundress	29 30	Masterton Masterton	8 Months 3 Months	Church of England	94/347		18 January 1894	Rev W C Paige, Church of England Minister
5	20 January 1894	Hans Rasmussen Marie Petersen	Hans Rasmussen Marie Petersen 💍 1894/406	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 18	Mauriceville Mauriceville	4 days 1 Month	Office of Registrar of Marriages	94/338	Peter Andersen, father of bride	20 January 1894	John Bagge, Registrar
6	20 January 1894	Robert Disher Sarah Jane Jardine Moorcock	Robert Disher Sarah Jane Caroline Moorcock 💍 1894/370	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 20	Hastwell Hastwell	30 days 1 week	Lutheran Church	94/353	Thomas Johanson, father of bride	20 January 1894	Rev C Christenson, Lutheran Minister
7	24 January 1894	John Cyril Miller Margaret Hogg	John Cyril Weller Margaret Hogg 💍 1894/407	Bachelor Spinster	Lining Slate Keeper	26 20	Masterton Masterton	10 days 20 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	94/339	William Hogg, father of bride	24 January 1894	John Bagge, Registrar
8	25 January 1894	Frederic Thomas Hornby Edith Emma Tatham	Frederic Thomas Horner Edith Emma Tatham 💍 1894/367	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	40 21	Beaumaris Whareama Homewood Whareama	18 Months 5 days	House of Mr Tatham, Homewood Whareama	94/350		25 January 1894	Rev W C Andrew, Church of England Minister
9	26 January 1894	Edw Harry Store Lettie Page		Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	28 22	Masterton Masterton	1 Month 1 Month	Church of England	94/348		26 January 1894	Rev W C Paige, Church of England Minister
10	5 March 1894	Patrick Maxwell Hastie Mary McKenzie	Patrick Maxwell Hastie Mary McKenzie 💍 1894/408	Bachelor Widow	Robiter Housekeeper	42 35	Masterton Masterton	3 days 3 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages	94/340		5 March 1894	John Bagge, Registrar

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).