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 536

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 1894 Registrar S. H. James

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

9 April 1894

John Brofkey
Jane Potroz

John Crofskey
Jane Potroz
💍 1894/1219

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
17

Midhurst
Midhurst

8 years
16 years

In the Roman Catholic Church

94/1285

Anton Potroz, father

9 April 1894

Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	9 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brofkey	Jane Potroz
BDM Match (92%)	John Crofskey	Jane Potroz
	💍 1894/1219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	8 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/1285
Consent	Anton Potroz, father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

9 April 1894

Joseph Dodunski
Mary Burckett

Joseph Dodunski
Mary Burckett
💍 1894/1218

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
18

Midhurst
Midhurst

10 years
14 years

In the Roman Catholic Church

94/1284

Adam Burchett, father

9 April 1894

Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	9 April 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dodunski	Mary Burckett
	💍 1894/1218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Midhurst
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/1284
Consent	Adam Burchett, father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

1 May 1894

Alexander Stewart
Ida Nash

Alexander Stewart
Ida Nash
💍 1894/1217

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

23
21

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
12 years

In the Residence of Obed Nash

94/1283

1 May 1894

Rev. G. W. Haywood, Primitive Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	1 May 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Stewart	Ida Nash
	💍 1894/1217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Obed Nash
Folio	94/1283
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Haywood, Primitive Methodist

8 June 1894

Alfred Charles Bennett
Higgie Smith

Alfred Charles Bennett
Lizzie Smith
💍 1894/1215

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

21
19

Midhurst
Stratford

2 years
14 years

In Holy Trinity Church

94/1281

John Easton Smith, father

8 June 1894

Rev. Alex English, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	8 June 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Charles Bennett	Higgie Smith
BDM Match (88%)	Alfred Charles Bennett	Lizzie Smith
	💍 1894/1215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Midhurst	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In Holy Trinity Church
Folio	94/1281
Consent	John Easton Smith, father
Date of Certificate	8 June 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex English, Church of England

12 June 1894

George Martin
Matilda Daines

George Martin
Matilda Daines
💍 1894/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

26
18

Eltham
Eltham

15 months
11 years

In the Primitive Methodist Church

94/1280

John Daines, father

14 June 1894

Rev. W. C. Wood, Primitive Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	12 June 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Martin	Matilda Daines
	💍 1894/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	15 months	11 years
Marriage Place	In the Primitive Methodist Church
Folio	94/1280
Consent	John Daines, father
Date of Certificate	14 June 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Primitive Methodist

27 June 1894

Frederick Styles
Mary Booker

Frederick Styles
Mary Booker
💍 1894/3743

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
23

Ngaire
Ngaire

12 months
9 months

In the Residence of Frederick Styles, formerly Road, Ngaire

94/4078

27 June 1894

Rev. J. McIntosh, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	27 June 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Styles	Mary Booker
	💍 1894/3743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Ngaire	Ngaire
Length of Residence	12 months	9 months
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Frederick Styles, formerly Road, Ngaire
Folio	94/4078
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McIntosh, Presbyterian

28 June 1894

Henry John Perham
Ellen Geoghegan

Henry John Perham
Ellen Geoghegan
💍 1894/2427

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

30
30

Manganui
Manganui

4 years
10 years

In the Residence of Mrs. Ellen Geoghegan at Manganui

See Notice No. 22. July 14th

28 June 1894

Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	28 June 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Perham	Ellen Geoghegan
	💍 1894/2427
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Manganui	Manganui
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the Residence of Mrs. Ellen Geoghegan at Manganui
Folio	See Notice No. 22. July 14th
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. James McKenna, Roman Catholic

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).