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 1064

District of Wellington 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
276	23 August 1894	Thomas William Mill Minnie Geraldine Clark	Thomas William Witt Minnie Geraldine Clark 💍 1894/2406	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	32 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of W. Clark, Woolcombe Street	94/2573	William Clark, father	23 August 1894	Rev. W. Baumber
277	24 August 1894	James Black McEvoy Ellen Bowie	James Black MacKirdy Ellen Bowie 💍 1894/3875	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	26 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Andrew's Church	94/4104		24 August 1894	Rev. C. J. Ogg
278	25 August 1894	Henry Butler Francis Louise Theodora Freckling	Henry Butler France Louise Theodora Frechtling 💍 1894/2397	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of E. Freckling, Brooklyn	94/2527		25 August 1894	Rev. C. Dallaston
279	28 August 1894	William Edward Woods Julia Jane Gambrill	William Edward Woods Julia Jane Gambrill 💍 1894/2726	Widower Spinster	Chemist	38 35	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	94/3000		28 August 1894	Rev. J. H. Sprott
280	29 August 1894	John Henry Hickling Ada Emily Warwick	John Henry Hickling Ada Emily Warwick 💍 1894/3	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of John Hickling, Adelaide Road	94/3010		29 August 1894	Rev. Josiah Ward
281	29 August 1894	Joseph William Pike Amy Davis	Joseph William Pike Amy Davis 💍 1894/2286	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	19 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2483	Joseph William Pike, father; Mary Ann Davis, mother	29 August 1894	W. T. Wyatt
282	30 August 1894	William Herman Edith Jane Laurie	William Herdman Edith Jane Laurie 💍 1894/2317	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2484		30 August 1894	W. T. Wyatt
283	1 September 1894	William McLeod Agnes Mary Murphy	William McRae Hellen Mary Grace Murphy 💍 1894/723	Widower Spinster	Station Manager	41 30	Wellington Wellington	7 weeks 4 years	St. Mary's Cathedral			1 September 1894	Rev. John O'Meara
284	1 September 1894	Thomas Walker Ellen Spelling	Thomas Walker Ellen Spelling 💍 1894/2332	Widower Widow	General Dealer	49 35	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Brookgreen, Howes Lane	94/2508		1 September 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
285	3 September 1894	Alfred Lyttelton Pratt Emily Mary Isabel Mancasow	Alfred Lyttelton Pratt Emily Mary Isabel Nancarrow 💍 1894/2390	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 years	St. Mark's Church	94/2519		2 September 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
286	3 September 1894	John Henry O'Neill Elizabeth Francis Diederich	John Henry O'Neill Elizabeth Frances Diederich 💍 1894/2328	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2485		3 September 1894	W. T. Wyatt
287	4 September 1894	Alfred Brooks Isabella Sharkey	Alfred Brooks Isabella Sharky 💍 1894/2499	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	32 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary's Cathedral	94/2533		4 September 1894	Rev. W. Goggan
288	4 September 1894	Harry Gibson Mary Annie Lean	Harry Gibson Mary Ann McLean 💍 1894/2333	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	27 23	Wellington Wellington	6 days 6 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2486		4 September 1894	W. T. Wyatt
289	5 September 1894	John King Elizabeth Johnson	John King Elizabeth Johnson 💍 1894/2334	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 29	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2487		5 September 1894	W. T. Wyatt
290	6 September 1894	Phillip Dalcom Maria Jensen	Phillip Dalcom Maria Jensen 💍 1894/2335	Bachelor Widow	Stoker	46 34	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2488		6 September 1894	W. T. Wyatt

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).