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 410

District of Winton Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar William Russell

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

13 January 1894

Henry James Gimpell
Ann Patterson Dodds

Henry James Gingell
Ann Paterson Dods
💍 1894/1194

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Farmer

40
50

Otepu Gorge
Otepu Gorge

9 years
9 years

The Presbyterian Manse, East Winton

94/980

13 January 1894

Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	13 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Gimpell	Ann Patterson Dodds
BDM Match (90%)	Henry James Gingell	Ann Paterson Dods
	💍 1894/1194
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Farmer
Age	40	50
Dwelling Place	Otepu Gorge	Otepu Gorge
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, East Winton
Folio	94/980
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

25 January 1894

Alexander Murrell
Margaret Lampert

Alexander Murrell
Margaret Lampert
💍 1894/1192

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
24

Oreti Plains
Oreti Plains

4 years
3 years

House of Mr. Thomas Lampert, Oreti Plains

94/978

25 January 1894

Rev. George William Christian, Church of England

No	86
Date of Notice	25 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Murrell	Margaret Lampert
	💍 1894/1192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Oreti Plains	Oreti Plains
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Thomas Lampert, Oreti Plains
Folio	94/978
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. George William Christian, Church of England

23 January 1894

Alfred Jones
Maria Teresa Hill

Alfred Jones
Maria Teresa Hill
💍 1894/1193

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

25
24

Winton
Winton

5 years
2 years

Rev. M. Keenan's Residence, East Winton

94/979

23 January 1894

Rev. M. Keenan, Roman Catholic

No	87
Date of Notice	23 January 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jones	Maria Teresa Hill
	💍 1894/1193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Winton	Winton
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Rev. M. Keenan's Residence, East Winton
Folio	94/979
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Keenan, Roman Catholic

1 February 1894

Robert Baird junr.
Margaret Lyon

Robert Baird Jr
Margaret Lyon
💍 1894/1191

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
20

Drummond
Oreti Flat

20 years
20 years

Home of Mr. David Lyon, Oreti Flat

94/977

David Lyon, Father

1 February 1894

Rev. Robert Ewen, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	1 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Baird junr.	Margaret Lyon
BDM Match (89%)	Robert Baird Jr	Margaret Lyon
	💍 1894/1191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Drummond	Oreti Flat
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Home of Mr. David Lyon, Oreti Flat
Folio	94/977
Consent	David Lyon, Father
Date of Certificate	1 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ewen, Presbyterian

12 February 1894

Adam Clark York
Catherine McKercher

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
31

Hokonui
Forest Hill

10 years
31 years

The Presbyterian Church Manse, East Winton

94/980

12 February 1894

Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	12 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam Clark York	Catherine McKercher
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Hokonui	Forest Hill
Length of Residence	10 years	31 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church Manse, East Winton
Folio	94/980
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Baird, Presbyterian

19 March 1894

Edward Thomas Hankins
Margaret Thomson Ferguson

Edward Thomas Hawkins
Margaret Thomson Ferguson
💍 1894/844

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
19

Fern Hills
Fern Hills

4 days
14 years

The House of Mr. John Ferguson, Fern Hills

94/987

John Ferguson, Father

20 March 1894

Rev. William Andrew Vyse, Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	19 March 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Hankins	Margaret Thomson Ferguson
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Thomas Hawkins	Margaret Thomson Ferguson
	💍 1894/844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Fern Hills	Fern Hills
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. John Ferguson, Fern Hills
Folio	94/987
Consent	John Ferguson, Father
Date of Certificate	20 March 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Andrew Vyse, Presbyterian

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).