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 1038

District of Masterton 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
36	2 July 1894	William Thomas Reynolds Harriet Maria Knight	William Thomas Reynolds Harriet Marion Knight 💍 1894/2480	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	18 18	Opaki Masterton	12 Months 13 Months	Residence of Mr Thomas Knight	94/2423	Betsy Reynolds, mother; Thomas Knight, father	2 July 1894	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
37	7 July 1894	William Oliver Bayless Mary Maria Harris	William Oliver Bayliss Mary Maria Harris 💍 1894/2482	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 20	Opaki Opaki	7 days 1 Month	House of Mr Walter Harris, Opaki	94/2425	Walter Harris, father	7 July 1894	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
38	11 July 1894	Andrew Webber Andrea Syntersen	Andrew Webber Andrea Syversen 💍 1894/2498	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 31	Masterton Masterton	5 weeks 2 weeks	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Masterton	94/2421		11 July 1894	John Bagge, Registrar
39	12 July 1894	Samuel Broome Agnes Petrie	Samuel Broome Agnes Petrie 💍 1894/2481	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	33 27	Upper Plain Upper Plain	6 weeks 1 Month	House of Mr William Taylor, Ahura	94/2424		12 July 1894	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
40	8 August 1894	Carl Ludwig Hallberg Mary Matilda Hansen	Carl Ludvig Halberg Mary Matilda Hansen 💍 1894/2479	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 20	Mauriceville Mauriceville	6 weeks 12 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Masterton	94/2422	Hans Hansen, father	8 August 1894	John Bagge, Registrar
41	18 August 1894	Isaac Nation Georgina Amelia Rossiter	Isaac Nation Georgina Amelia Rossiter 💍 1894/4018	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	23 19	Mauriceville Mauriceville	3 days 14 days	Church of England, Masterton	94/3019	John Rossiter, father	18 August 1894	Rev. W. Ballachey, Church of England Minister
42	22 August 1894	Walter Charles Perry Annie Jane Yates	Walter Charles Perry Annie Jane Yates 💍 1894/3004	Bachelor Spinster	Law Clerk	28 26	Masterton Upper Plain	6 months 6 months	Church of England, Masterton	94/3022		22 August 1894	Rev. A. V. Grace, Church of England Minister
43	7 September 1894	Thomas Alpha Halsall Annie Louisa Schultz	Thomas Alfred Halsall Annie Louisa Schultz 💍 1894/2483	Widower Spinster	Labourer	32 22	Masterton Masterton	5 weeks 2 Months	Presbyterian Manse, Masterton	94/2426		7 September 1894	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
44	15 September 1894	William Clement Cargill Isabella Emily Nicol	William Clement Cargill Isabella Emily Nicol 💍 1894/4019	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	24 23	Masterton Masterton	4 years 23 years	Church of England, Masterton	94/3020		15 September 1894	Rev. A. V. Grace, Church of England Minister
45	17 September 1894	Frank Siemonek Lucy Rysaker	Frank Siemonek Lucy Broska 💍 1894/2790	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 18	Masterton Carterton	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church, Carterton	94/2818		17 September 1894	Rev. Father McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest

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).