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 1118

District of Ashburton 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
860	2 July 1894	Henry Davis Anne Whitaker	Henry Davis Anne Whitaker 💍 1894/3953	Widower Widow	Hotel Keeper Dressmaker	39 49	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 1.5 years	Royal Hotel, Ashburton	94/2602		2 July 1894	Revd. J. A. Hamilton
861	2 July 1894	Robert Scott Finn Louisa Edith Smith	Robert Scott Sim Louisa Edith Smith 💍 1894/3939	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 28	Tinwald Tinwald	3 years 4 years	St. Andrews Church at Tinwald	94/2605		2 July 1894	Revd. John Blackburne
862	11 July 1894	Andrew Forster Mary Northington	Andrew Forster Mary Worthington 💍 1894/4220	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Dressmaker	34 36	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	94/2604		11 July 1894	J. Ward, Registrar
863	19 July 1894	William Bower Craighead Jessamine Palmer Tregear	William Bruce Craighead Jessamine Wilmot Trezise 💍 1894/4028	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	24 22	Eketahuna Ashburton	12 months 19 years	Primitive Methodist Church at Eketahuna	94/2609		19 July 1894	Revd. James Cocker
864	31 July 1894	John James J. Nicholas Sarah Hopwood	John James Trehair Nicholas Sarah Hopwood 💍 1894/2340	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	28 27	Ashburton Christchurch	7 years 3 days	St. Saviours Church at Christchurch	94/2658		31 July 1894	Revd. J. A. Bett
865	20 August 1894	Charles David Robbins Rose Hannah Elizabeth Leonard	Charles Samuel Robbins Rose Hannah Elizabeth Leonard 💍 1894/2433	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	32 18	Ashburton Hampstead	28 years 18 years	Private Dwelling of James Leonard at Hampstead	94/2608	James Leonard, Father	20 August 1894	Revd. Thomas G. Brooke
866	4 September 1894	Herbert James Moss Beatrice Annie Matilda Gates	Herbert James Moss Beatrice Annie Matilda Gates 💍 1894/4219	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant Dressmaker	23 25	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 16 months	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	94/2603		4 September 1894	Revd. J. A. Hamilton
867	7 September 1894	William Henry Downrow Ruth McLauchlan	William Henry Townrow Ruth McLauchlan 💍 1894/4221	Widower Spinster	Storeman	38 24	Timaru Ashburton	6 years 2 months	Private dwelling of James McLauchlan at Ruapuna	94/2606		7 September 1894	Revd. A. Blake

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).