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 582

District of Featherston 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
73	23 April 1894	John Albert Nicholson Marcia Mary Henderson	John Albert Nicholson Marcia Mary Henderson 💍 1894/1413	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer None	25 25	Featherston Tauherenikau	4 years 25 years	Mrs Mary Henderson's Private House, Tauherenikau	94/1342		23 April 1894	Rev James Lynburn
74	25 April 1894	Charles Richard Benton Catherine Amelie Yelverton	Charles Richard Benton Catherine Amelia Yelverton 💍 1894/1402	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer None	24 22	Featherston Featherston	2 years 22 years	Private residence of Mr A. Matthews, Featherston	94/1341		25 April 1894	Rev James Lynburn
75	25 April 1894	William Edward Bidwill Mildred Edith Rhodes	William Edward Bidwill Mildred Edith Rhodes 💍 1894/2059	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer None	35 22	Featherston Napier	35 years	Pro Cathedral, Napier	94/2102		25 April 1894	Dean Howell (Napier)
76	30 April 1894	Walter James Feast Louie Gazley	Walter James Feast Louie Gazley 💍 1894/1422	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer None	26 18	Kariwaiwai Kariwaiwai	12 years 3 years	Private residence of Mr Samuel Feast, Kariwaiwai	94/1347	Charles Gazley, father of bride	30 April 1894	Rev A. V. Grace
77	5 May 1894	Charles Robert Fenwick Martha Feast	Charles Robert Fenwick Martha Feast 💍 1894/1418	Widower Widow	Farmer None	54 51	Featherston Featherston	30 years 30 years	Mrs M. Feast's Private Residence, Featherston	94/1343		5 May 1894	Rev J. Lynburn
78	25 May 1894	Harry Carwell Cook Kate Elizabeth Croot	Harry Carwell Cook Kate Elizabeth Croot 💍 1894/1419	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer None	29 21	Martinborough Martinborough	4 years 5 years	Mr Geo. Croot's Private Residence, Martinborough	94/1344		25 May 1894	Rev J. Lynburn
79	28 May 1894	Arthur Martin Phoebe Hume	Arthur Martin Phoebe Hume 💍 1894/1420	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer None	30 31	Martinborough Martinborough	9 years 31 years	Burnside Church, Louise Valley	94/1345		28 May 1894	Rev James Lynburn
80	23 June 1894	Frederick Olsen Emily Pope	Frederick Olsen Emily Pipe 💍 1894/1423	Widower Widow	Farmer Dressmaker	49 38	Kariwaiwai Featherston	19 years 5 Months	Mrs Emily Pope's Private Residence, Featherston	94/1348		23 June 1894	Rev A. V. Grace

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).