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 520

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
87	9 April 1894	Frederick Palmer Haynard Rhoda Reed	Frederick Balmer Hayward Rhoda Reed 💍 1894/4171	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Household duties	33 27	Maungakaramea Whangarei	30 years 1 month	Church of England, Whangarei	94/1235	9 April 1894	Rev. L. L. Cubitt, Episcopalian
88	16 April 1894	George Davis Strongman Annie Helena	George Davis Strongman Annie Nehua 💍 1894/1172	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	22 21 1/2	Whangarei Taharoa, Whangarei	6 days 2 1/2 years	Registrar's Office, Whangarei	94/1234	16 April 1894	Registrar, Whangarei
89	21 April 1894	Edward Wallace Robinson Edith Mary Tippett	Edward Wallace Robinson Edith Mary Tippett 💍 1894/1173	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 21	Whangarei Whangarei	3 days 21 years	Church of England, Whangarei	94/1236	21 April 1894	Rev. L. L. Cubitt, Episcopalian
90	23 April 1894	Nicholas Murphy Elizabeth Ann McBeth	Nicholas Murphy Elizabeth Ann McBeth 💍 1894/1176	Widower Spinster	Settler	40 28	Hikurangi Kaurihorehore	10 years 20 years	Residence of John McBeth, Kaurihorehore	94/1238	23 April 1894	Rev. J. Mackie, Presbyterian
91	1 May 1894	Charles Ludwig Kasper Matilda Paddle Courtney	Charles Ludwig Kasper Matilda Baskle Courtney 💍 1894/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	26 20	Whangarei Whangarei	3 days 20 years	Residence of Alfred Charles Courtney, Whangarei	94/1239	1 May 1894	Rev. L. L. Cubitt, Episcopalian
92	21 May 1894	Roderick Anderson Margaret Emma Lewis	Roderick Finlayson Margaret Emma Lewis 💍 1894/1354	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	24 23	Kamo Kamo	4 days 4 days	Church of England, Whangarei	94/1241	21 May 1894	Rev. J. H. Hawkes, Episcopalian
93	11 June 1894	Thomas Gibson Henry Hall Edith Alice Whitelaw	Thomas Gibson Henry Hall Edith Maria Whitelaw 💍 1894/4072	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	41 22	Kamo Kamo	4 years 22 years	Residence of James Whitelaw, Kamo	94/1239	11 June 1894	Rev. J. Mackie, 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 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).