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 1048

District of Rangitikei 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
22	13 July 1894	Edward Herbert Wing Anna Wypocki	Edward Herbert Wing Anna Wysocki 💍 1894/2367	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 22	Marton Marton	6 years 18 years	Presbyterian Church	94/2445		13 July 1894	Revd D. Gordon
23	16 July 1894	George Charles Hammond Ellen Maud Malpas	George Charles Hammond Ellen Maud Malpas 💍 1894/2384	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 21	Turakina Turakina	6 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church	94/2440		16 July 1894	Revd John Ross
24	26 July 1894	William Hunt Ellen Morris	William Hunt Ellen Morris 💍 1894/2368	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 19	Marton Marton	29 years 12 days	Mr. C. H. Hunt's	94/2446	Parents or Guardians	8 August 1894	Revd D. Gordon
25	15 August 1894	John William Cummins Catherine Rosewarne Button	John William Lammas Catharine Rosswarn Button 💍 1894/4106	Widower Spinster	Wheelwright	26 24	Bulls Bulls	9 days 15 years	Mr. H. Stimway's	94/2443		15 August 1894	Revd Jas. Doull
26	20 August 1894	Henry Phillips Annie Johns	Henry Phillips Annie Johns 💍 1894/2383	Bachelor Spinster	Benchman	28 25	Marton Marton	1 day 6 weeks	Registrar's Office	94/2439		22 August 1894	W. J. Chaney
27	21 August 1894	John Frederick Crossman Emily Eliza Palmer	John Frederick Moosman Emily Eliza Palmer 💍 1894/2385	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 22	Turakina Turakina	1 day 1 day	Residence of Revd John Ross	94/2441		23 August 1894	Revd John Ross
28	13 September 1894	Richard Wood Halse Martha Gibbons	Richard Wood Halse Martha Prosser Gibbons 💍 1894/2789	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	27 21	Woodville Marton	8 days 19 years	St. Stephen's Church, Marton	94/2867		13 September 1894	Ven. Arch. A. Towgood
29	14 September 1894	Benjamin Gower Martha Catherine Bowen	Benjamin Gower Martha Euphemia Bowen 💍 1894/2386	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 24	Turakina Turakina Valley	30 years 27 years	Mr. J. L. Bowen's Residence, Turakina Valley	94/2442		14 September 1894	Revd John Ross
30	24 September 1894	Samuel Thomas Agnes Galpin	Samuel Thomas Agnes Galpin 💍 1894/2369	Bachelor Spinster	Station Overseer	27 24	Upper Turakina Upper Turakina	2 days 24 years	Mr. C. M. Galpin's Residence, Upper Turakina	94/2447		25 September 1894	Revd D. Gordon

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).