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 360

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar John Winstanley Wilkie

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

3 January 1894

Archibald Morrison
Susannah Emilar

Archibald Morrison
Susannah Millar
💍 1894/945

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
22

Invercargill
Long Bush

4 days
12 years

Office of the Registrar

94/913

3 January 1894

J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Morrison	Susannah Emilar
BDM Match (90%)	Archibald Morrison	Susannah Millar
	💍 1894/945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Long Bush
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	94/913
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1894
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkie, Registrar

8 January 1894

John Jones
Bridget Garvey

John Jones
Bridget Garvey
💍 1894/921

Widower
Widow

Laborer

51
55

Invercargill
Ruabel Bush

12 months
15 years

Roman Catholic Church

94/900

8 January 1894

Rev P. O'Dea

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jones	Bridget Garvey
	💍 1894/921
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	51	55
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Ruabel Bush
Length of Residence	12 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/900
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev P. O'Dea

9 January 1894

Frederick Simmonds
Ada Sarah Church

Frederick Simonds Cory
Ada Sarah Church
💍 1894/941

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

29
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 months
3 days

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Kelvin Street

94/896

9 January 1894

Rev Geo Lindsay

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Simmonds	Ada Sarah Church
BDM Match (86%)	Frederick Simonds Cory	Ada Sarah Church
	💍 1894/941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Kelvin Street
Folio	94/896
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Lindsay

13 January 1894

Archibald Money
Jane Dalrymple Henderson

Archibald Mouncey Irving
Jane Dalrymple Henderson
💍 1894/930

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
27

Roslyn Bush
Invercargill

28 years
27 years

House of Mr John Henderson, Tay Street

94/908

13 January 1894

Rev John Ferguson

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Money	Jane Dalrymple Henderson
BDM Match (81%)	Archibald Mouncey Irving	Jane Dalrymple Henderson
	💍 1894/930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Roslyn Bush	Invercargill
Length of Residence	28 years	27 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Henderson, Tay Street
Folio	94/908
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson

19 January 1894

John Williams
Emily Amelia Shefflein

John Williams
Emily Amelia Shieffelbein
💍 1894/956

John Williams
Jane Ann Dollman
💍 1894/708

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer

22
16

Invercargill
Euakarewa

20 years
13 years

Office of the Registrar

94/914

Herman Shefflein, father

19 January 1894

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	19 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Williams	Emily Amelia Shefflein
BDM Match (94%)	John Williams	Emily Amelia Shieffelbein
	💍 1894/956
BDM Match (61%)	John Williams	Jane Ann Dollman
	💍 1894/708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Euakarewa
Length of Residence	20 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	94/914
Consent	Herman Shefflein, father
Date of Certificate	19 January 1894
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

20 January 1894

Thomas Burtenshaw
Fanny Burorton Cameron

Thomas Burtenshaw
Fanny Morton Cameron
💍 1894/929

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

26
23

Lumsden
Invercargill

3 years
18 years

House of Mr John Stewart, Bowmont Street

94/909

20 January 1894

Rev John Ferguson

No	6
Date of Notice	20 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Burtenshaw	Fanny Burorton Cameron
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Burtenshaw	Fanny Morton Cameron
	💍 1894/929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Lumsden	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr John Stewart, Bowmont Street
Folio	94/909
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev John Ferguson

25 January 1894

Martin Holland
Mary Jane Kiely

Martin Holland
Mary Jane Kiely
💍 1894/922

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

33
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street

94/901

25 January 1894

Rev E. Bereker

No	7
Date of Notice	25 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Holland	Mary Jane Kiely
	💍 1894/922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street
Folio	94/901
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Bereker

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).