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 684

District of Ashburton 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
842	6 April 1894	May Smith Margaret Dillon	Hay Smith Margaret Dillon 💍 1894/2085	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep-dealer	28 26	Ashburton Ashburton	28 years 12 years	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton	94/2162	6 April 1894	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
843	6 April 1894	George Barker Emma Rodda	George Barber Emma Rodda 💍 1894/1498	Bachelor Spinster	Millman Domestic Servant	24 22	Ashburton Ashburton	17 years 13 years	Private Dwelling of Susannah Rodda, Ashburton	94/1606	6 April 1894	Revd. J. Cocker
844	7 April 1894	Richard James Mugford Matilda Day	Richard James Mugford Matilda Day 💍 1894/1478	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	31 27	Waterton Ashburton	18 years 2 years	Wesleyan Church, Waterton	94/1608	7 April 1894	Revd. C. Abernethy
845	10 April 1894	John Laffey Ellen Brosnahan	John Laffey Ellen Brosnahan 💍 1894/2087	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 28	Lagmhor Lagmhor	18 months 18 months	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton	94/2164	10 April 1894	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
846	11 April 1894	Henry Arthur Lloyd Elizabeth Bruce	Henry Arthur Lloyd Elizabeth Bruce 💍 1894/1499	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Newland Seafield	15 years 16 years	Private Dwelling of Murdoch Bruce, Seafield	94/1607	11 April 1894	Revd. James Cocker
847	18 April 1894	Patrick Murphy Mary O'Donoghue	Patrick Murphy Mary ODonoghue 💍 1894/2088	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	54 40	Chertsey Chertsey	17 years 9 years	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Ashburton	94/2165	18 April 1894	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
848	23 April 1894	Thomas Rainey Margaret Davison	Thomas Rainey Margaret Davison 💍 1894/1481	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 21	Winslow Willowbey	16 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	94/1611	23 April 1894	Revd. G. B. Inglis
849	23 April 1894	Frank Frederick Lowe Fanny Grice	Frank Frederick Lowe Fanny Grice 💍 1894/1479	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 21	Tinwald Willowby	14 years 12 months	Private Dwelling of George Grice, Willowby	94/1609	23 April 1894	Revd. C. Abernethy
850	30 April 1894	Charles Lawson Harriett Plumette	Charles Lawson Harriett Annette 💍 1894/1497	Bachelor Widow	Baker Dressmaker	35 30	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 6 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	94/1605	30 April 1894	J. Ward, Registrar
851	30 April 1894	George Botherway Junr. Sarah Briggs	George Botherway Junr Sarah Briggs 💍 1894/1485	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 28	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 7 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	94/1615	30 April 1894	Revd. J. A. Hamilton

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).