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 196

District of Wellington 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
93	12 March 1894	Joseph Henry Cash Frances Fulton McIver	Joseph Henry Lash Frances Fulton McWhirter 💍 1894/1053	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 22	Petone Petone	18 months 2 years	House of Mr. McIver, Petone	94/1041		12 March 1894	Rev. A. Ashcroft
94	12 March 1894	James Thomas Carey Theresa Firth	James Thomas Cauty Theresa Firth 💍 1894/437	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	24 26	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Baptist Church, Vivian Street	94/448		12 March 1894	Rev. C. D. Wallace
95	14 March 1894	Michael Hayes Minnie William	Michael Hayes Minnie Williams 💍 1894/518	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	27 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/509		14 March 1894	Mr. Wray
96	15 March 1894	Thomas Simpson Turner Maud Cooke	Thomas Simpson Turner Maud Cook 💍 1894/558	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 18 months	St. Peter's Church	94/432		15 March 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
97	15 March 1894	George James Emma Ann Honour	George Janes Emma Ann Honour 💍 1894/3922	Bachelor Spinster	French Polisher	24 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Home of Mr. G. Baker, Maughan Street	94/440		15 March 1894	Rev. F. A. Turner
98	15 March 1894	George Webster Mary Elizabeth Richards	George Webster Mary Elizabeth Richards 💍 1894/982	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	24 17	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	94/1010	Mary Richards, mother	15 March 1894	Rev. F. H. Sprott
99	15 March 1894	Henry Joseph Dalton Letitia Theresa Josephine McMahon	Henry Joseph Dalton McManaway Letitia Theresa Josephine Stuart 💍 1894/562	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Tawa Flat Pahautanui	3 months 2 years	St. Joseph's Church, Pahautanui	94/412		15 March 1894	Rev. John Lane
100	16 March 1894	Archibald Sargeant Sarah A. Scott	Archibald Sargeant Sarah Acourt 💍 1894/983	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	94/1011		16 March 1894	Rev. F. H. Sprott
101	19 March 1894	Thomas Buchanan Edith Annie Troughton	Thomas Meehan Edith Annie Troughton 💍 1894/548	Widower Widow	Mariner	42 32	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Mary's of the Angels	94/422		19 March 1894	Very Rev. J. Devoy
102	19 March 1894	Arthur Emerson Cabin Alice Securities	Arthur Emerson Mabin Alice Ellen Little 💍 1894/431	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peter's Church	94/433		19 March 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
103	21 March 1894	Francis Freeman Todd Ellen Maud Webb	Francis Steeman Tocker Ellen Maria Webb 💍 1894/459	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Wellington Taita	3 days 2 years	House of Mr. Williamson, Taita	94/470	George Webb, Father	21 March 1894	Rev. Andrew Gray
104	21 March 1894	Walter Emerson Ramsay Alice Wilkins	Walter Emerson Ramsay Alice Wilkins 💍 1894/432	Bachelor Spinster	Manager Oil and Colour Warehouse	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	St. Mark's Church	94/443		21 March 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
105	21 March 1894	Alfred William Weine Alice Lee	Alfred William Weine Alice Lee 💍 1894/2001	Bachelor Spinster	Chairmaker	19 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	St. Mark's Church	94/1987	No Relation in Colony	4 April 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
106	22 March 1894	Peter Mortensen Agnes Josephine Beech	Peter Mutensen Agnes Josephine Beech 💍 1894/561	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 19	Wellington Charm	3 days 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	94/411	George Beech, Father	22 March 1894	Rev. John Lane
107	27 March 1894	Thomas Edward Price Annie Meers	Thomas Edward Price Annie Meers 💍 1894/446	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	50 30	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	Home of Mr. Bayley, Majoribanks Street	94/456		27 March 1894	Rev. K. Elliott

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).