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 264

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar J. W. Mawson

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

19 March 1894

Peter Jack
Minnie Forward

Peter Jack
Minnie Forward
💍 1894/641

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

18
18

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
10 years

House of Mr. Jas. Forward, East Belt, Christchurch

94/661

James Forward, Father

19 March 1894

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Jack	Minnie Forward
	💍 1894/641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	18	18
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Jas. Forward, East Belt, Christchurch
Folio	94/661
Consent	James Forward, Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

19 March 1894

Robert Rodgerson
Margaret Ritchie

Robert Rodger Strang Shand
Margaret Kitchie
💍 1894/639

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Housekeeper

43
27

Christchurch
Christchurch

1 month
1 month

St. Andrews, Christchurch

94/609

19 March 1894

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Rodgerson	Margaret Ritchie
BDM Match (74%)	Robert Rodger Strang Shand	Margaret Kitchie
	💍 1894/639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Housekeeper
Age	43	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Andrews, Christchurch
Folio	94/609
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

19 March 1894

Walter Hueston
Elizabeth Agnes Bradley

Walter Hulston
Elizabeth Agnes Bradley
💍 1894/637

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Compositor

24
21

Christchurch
Christchurch

19 years
21 years

St. Lukes, Christchurch

94/649

19 March 1894

Rev. Arch. Leigard, Church of England

No	86
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hueston	Elizabeth Agnes Bradley
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Hulston	Elizabeth Agnes Bradley
	💍 1894/637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Compositor
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	19 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes, Christchurch
Folio	94/649
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arch. Leigard, Church of England

19 March 1894

Christian Frederick Dierck
Mary Marie Rugsted

Christian Frederick Dierck
Mary Marie Rugsted
💍 1894/1716

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

26
20

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
20 years

House of Rev. F. Hausler, Ashfield, Christchurch

94/648

Carl Rugsted, Father

19 March 1894

Rev. F. Hausler, Presbyterian

No	87
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Frederick Dierck	Mary Marie Rugsted
	💍 1894/1716
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. Hausler, Ashfield, Christchurch
Folio	94/648
Consent	Carl Rugsted, Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Hausler, Presbyterian

19 March 1894

Turner
Ethel Vose

Henry Turner
Ethel Lily Vose
💍 1894/1626

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

37
17

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
10 years

All Saints, Prebbleton, Christchurch

94/636

Edward [illegible] Vose, Father

19 March 1894

Rev. W. T. Knowles, Church of England

No	88
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Turner	Ethel Vose
BDM Match (58%)	Henry Turner	Ethel Lily Vose
	💍 1894/1626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	37	17
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	All Saints, Prebbleton, Christchurch
Folio	94/636
Consent	Edward [illegible] Vose, Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. Knowles, Church of England

20 March 1894

Louis Pliant
Augusta Joseph Cotton

Bachelor
Spinster

Turnsmith

25
24

Christchurch
Christchurch

10 years
10 years

Wesleyan, Durham St, Christchurch

94/631

20 March 1894

Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan

No	89
Date of Notice	20 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Pliant	Augusta Joseph Cotton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turnsmith
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan, Durham St, Christchurch
Folio	94/631
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury, Wesleyan

20 March 1894

Samuel Andrews
Minnie Russell Jackson

Samuel Andrews
Minnie Russell Jackson
💍 1894/685

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
22

Christchurch
Paparoa

4 years
22 years

St. Pauls, Christchurch

94/682

20 March 1894

Rev. J. G. Hoare, Church of England

No	90
Date of Notice	20 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Andrews	Minnie Russell Jackson
	💍 1894/685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Paparoa
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls, Christchurch
Folio	94/682
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Hoare, Church of England

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).