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 970

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 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
158	2 July 1894	Frederick Swadling Lillian Maria Cooper	Frederick Swadling Lillian Maria Cooper 💍 1894/2346	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 23	Hawera Hawera	4 days 11 years	Residence of Charles Mitchell South Road Hawera	94/2319		2 July 1894	Wm Cannell
159	9 July 1894	Alfred Charles Atkinson Louisa Marion Lysaght	Alfred Charles Atkinson Louisa Marion Lysaght 💍 1894/2349	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	30 29	Hawera Mokoia	2 1/2 years 15 years	Church of England Hawera	94/2320		9 July 1894	W. H. Kay
160	14 July 1894	William Drury Flora Louisa Joiner	William Drury Flora Louisa Joiner 💍 1894/2351	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	22 18	Whakamara Hawera	12 years 13 years	Registrars Office Hawera	94/2323	Frederick George Joiner, Father	14 July 1894	Alfred Trimble
161	16 July 1894	John Edward Fletcher Ellen Baker	John Edward Fletcher Ellen Baker 💍 1894/4202	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Household duties	34 17	Hawera Hawera	6 days 2 years	Registrars Office Hawera	94/2324	John William Baker, Father	16 July 1894	Alfred Trimble
162	11 September 1894	Jesse James Hills Winifred Moana Cannell	Jesse James Hills Winifred Mona Cannell 💍 1894/2347	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 25	Hawera Hawera	3 days 2 1/2 years	Residence of Brides father Rev Wm Cannell Clover Road Hawera	94/2318		11 September 1894	Wm Cannell
163	17 September 1894	Charles Richardson Bayley Susan Marguerita Graham	Charles Richardson Bayley Susan Marguerita Graham 💍 1894/2348	Widower Spinster	Commission Agent	41 23	Hawera Hawera	3 years 3 months	Egmont Hotel Hawera	94/2319		17 September 1894	A. D. Mulvihill
164	19 September 1894	Thomas Scarborough Mary M. Indoe	Thomas Scarborough Mary McIndoe 💍 1894/2352	Bachelor Spinster	Bus Driver General Servant	22 21	Hawera Hawera	5 days 2 months	Registrars Office Hawera	94/2325		19 September 1894	J. F. Martin
165	24 September 1894	John Wilcock Eliza Jenkison	John Wilcock Eliza Jenkinson 💍 1894/2353	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 14	Hawera Hawera	4 days 4 days	Registrars Office Hawera	94/2326	Edward Waters Jenkison, Father	24 September 1894	J. F. Martin
166	24 September 1894	Charles Cox Matilda Elizabeth Brown	Charles Cox Matilda Elizabeth Brown 💍 1894/2350	Bachelor Spinster	Dairy Factory Manager	45 33	Hawera Hawera	4 days 4 days	Church of England Hawera	94/2321		24 September 1894	W. H. Kay
167	27 September 1894	Manley John Ashworth Clara Elizabeth Foy	Manley John Ashwin Clara Elizabeth Foy 💍 1894/4116	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 29	Hawera Hawera	3 1/2 years 3 months	Church of England Hawera	94/2322		27 September 1894	W. H. Kay

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).