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 866

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1894 Registrar S. H. Lyons

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

275

2 July 1894

Benjamin Millimon Butterworth
Eliza Ann Stephenson

Benjamin Millimon Butterworth
Eliza Ann Stephenson
💍 1894/4189

Widower
Widow

Builder

37
34

Auckland
Auckland

37 years
30 years

House of Mr. T. H. Nicoll, Symonds Street

94/2245

2 July 1894

Rev. D. H. Nicoll, Wesleyan

No	275
Date of Notice	2 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Millimon Butterworth	Eliza Ann Stephenson
	💍 1894/4189
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Builder
Age	37	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	37 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. T. H. Nicoll, Symonds Street
Folio	94/2245
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Nicoll, Wesleyan

276

2 July 1894

John Herbert Gillham
Florence Ethel Young

John Herbert Gillham
Florence Ethel Young
💍 1894/2139

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
21

Kaipara
Auckland

3 months
18 months

House of G. B. Mauro, Newmarket

94/2217

2 July 1894

Rev. G. B. Mauro, Presbyterian

No	276
Date of Notice	2 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Gillham	Florence Ethel Young
	💍 1894/2139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Kaipara	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	18 months
Marriage Place	House of G. B. Mauro, Newmarket
Folio	94/2217
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Mauro, Presbyterian

277

3 July 1894

Charles Henry Hill
Mary Ann Hiscock

Charles Henry Hill
Mary Ann Hiscock
💍 1894/2125

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

45
52

Auckland
Auckland

9 years
9 years

Glass Street Church, Remuera

94/2253

3 July 1894

Rev. I. Richards, Church of England

No	277
Date of Notice	3 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hill	Mary Ann Hiscock
	💍 1894/2125
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	52
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Glass Street Church, Remuera
Folio	94/2253
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Richards, Church of England

278

4 July 1894

Harry Wilmot Diggens
Johanna Condon

Harry Wilmot Diggens
Johanna Condon
💍 1894/4000

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

32
30

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
12 years

St. Matthews Church

94/2723

4 July 1894

Rev. A. Beatty, Church of England

No	278
Date of Notice	4 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wilmot Diggens	Johanna Condon
	💍 1894/4000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	94/2723
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Beatty, Church of England

279

5 July 1894

Francis Patrick Haslam
Alice Pyke

Francis Patrick Haslam
Alice Pyke
💍 1894/2078

Bachelor
Widow

Compositor

25
23

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

94/2178

5 July 1894

S. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	279
Date of Notice	5 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Patrick Haslam	Alice Pyke
	💍 1894/2078
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/2178
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1894
Officiating Minister	S. H. Lyons, Registrar

280

6 July 1894

William Crow Fearnley
Edith Helen Fearnley

William Crow
Edith Helen Fearnley
💍 1894/2141

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

16 years
13 years

Wesleyan Church

94/2219

6 July 1894

Rev. H. Bull, Wesleyan

No	280
Date of Notice	6 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crow Fearnley	Edith Helen Fearnley
BDM Match (79%)	William Crow	Edith Helen Fearnley
	💍 1894/2141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	16 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	94/2219
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Bull, Wesleyan

281

7 July 1894

Joseph Bowden Kellett
Anna Maria Kellett

Joseph Bowden
Annie Maria Kellett
💍 1894/2127

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

24
24

Auckland
Ponsonby

24 years
20 years

All Saints Church

94/2254

7 July 1894

Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

No	281
Date of Notice	7 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bowden Kellett	Anna Maria Kellett
BDM Match (76%)	Joseph Bowden	Annie Maria Kellett
	💍 1894/2127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	94/2254
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Calder, Church of England

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).