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 736

District of Quiriam 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
14	1 April 1894	George Knott Matilda Johnson	George Knott Matilda Johnson 💍 1894/2012	Widower Widow	Butcher	38 28	Quiriam Quiriam	15 years 6 years	Residence of Mr. Peter Pallesow, Quiriam	94/1998		1 April 1894	Rev. Charles Prick Brown, Baptist Minister
15	14 April 1894	Herbert William Morton Harriett Livinia Best	Herbert William Marton Harriett Lavinia Best 💍 1894/1832	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	28 18	Quiriam Quiriam	1 year 15 years	Residence of Mr. Charles Massey, Quiriam	94/1959	Elizabeth Massey, Mother. Father dead	12 April 1894	Rev. Charles E. Beecraft, Wesleyan Minister
16	16 April 1894	William McBride Beatrice Bennet	William McBride Beatrice Bennet 💍 1894/1840	Bachelor Spinster	Watch Maker	18 18	Quiriam Quiriam	18 years 18 years	Residence of Mr. Alexander Bennet, Quiriam	94/1968	Samuel Mc Bride, Father; Alexander Bennet, Father	16 April 1894	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
17	17 April 1894	John Liddington Higgs Eliza Allen	John Liddington Higgs Eliza Allen 💍 1894/1842	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 32	Quiriam Quiriam	29 years 2 years	Presbyterian Manse, Quiriam	94/1969		17 April 1894	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister
18	18 April 1894	Thomas Carruth Ellen Huband	Thomas Carruth Ellen Huband 💍 1894/1833	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	53 22	Quiriam Quiriam	14 years 22 years	Residence of Mr. Thomas Carruth, Sandietown	94/1960		18 April 1894	Rev. Charles E. Beecraft, Wesleyan Minister
19	23 April 1894	Thomas Simpson Mary Ann Lack	Thomas Simpson Mary Ann Lack 💍 1894/1837	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	44 24	Gleniti Gleniti	6 years 14 years	Residence of Mrs. Julia Lack, Gleniti	94/1965		23 April 1894	Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
20	24 April 1894	Hubert Ramsey Morton Annie Tait Cramond	Hubert Ramsey Morton Annie Tate Cramond 💍 1894/2014	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Official	24 21	Amberley Quiriam	13 months 21 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Quiriam	94/2000		24 April 1894	Ven. Archdeacon Henry William Harper, Church of England Clergyman
21	1 May 1894	Robert Charles Brien Ellen Mary Melton	Robert Charles Brien Ellen Mary Melton 💍 1894/2015	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	32 30	Quiriam Quiriam	4 years 30 years	St. Mary's Episcopalian Church, Quiriam	94/2001		1 May 1894	Ven. Archdeacon Henry W. Harper, Church of England Minister
22	3 May 1894	Thomas Hubbard Julia Ann Stoneycliffe	Thomas Hubbard Julia Anna Toneycliffe 💍 1894/1834	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 24	Quiriam Quiriam	4 years 15 years	Residence of Mr. Hugh Stoneycliffe, Quiriam	94/1961		3 May 1894	Rev. Charles E. Beecraft, Wesleyan Minister
23	3 May 1894	Charles William Brown Jane Currie	Charles William Brown Jane Currie 💍 1894/1851	Bachelor Spinster	Boatman	54 31	Quiriam Quiriam	16 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Quiriam	94/1955		3 May 1894	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quiriam

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).