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 1226

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1894 Registrar John Winstanley

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

9 July 1894

Laurence Forde
Bridget Downey

Lawrence Forde
Bridget Downey
💍 1894/2618

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
7 years

Roman Catholic Church

94/2811

9 July 1894

Rev. E. Bereker

No	52
Date of Notice	9 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Forde	Bridget Downey
BDM Match (96%)	Lawrence Forde	Bridget Downey
	💍 1894/2618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	94/2811
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Bereker

14 July 1894

William Still Brass
Esther Emma Spence

William Still Brass
Esther Emma Spence
💍 1894/2724

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

25
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

25 years
8 years

House of Rev. Frederick John Spence

94/2987

14 July 1894

Rev. W. C. Oliver

No	53
Date of Notice	14 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Still Brass	Esther Emma Spence
	💍 1894/2724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Frederick John Spence
Folio	94/2987
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Oliver

17 July 1894

David Knox Johnston
Mary Ann Sanderson

David Knox Johnston
Mary Ann Sanderson
💍 1894/2626

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

31
31

Invercargill
Invercargill

16 months
2 years

House of Rev. John Bullar

94/2812

17 July 1894

Rev. P. W. Jones

No	54
Date of Notice	17 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Knox Johnston	Mary Ann Sanderson
	💍 1894/2626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. John Bullar
Folio	94/2812
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones

18 July 1894

Robert Murray
Mary O'Brien

Robert Murray
Mary O'Brien
💍 1894/2644

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
21

Wallacetown
Wallacetown

16 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar

94/2814

18 July 1894

J. L. Bush, Deputy Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	18 July 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Murray	Mary O'Brien
	💍 1894/2644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Wallacetown	Wallacetown
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	94/2814
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1894
Officiating Minister	J. L. Bush, Deputy Registrar

13 August 1894

Robert Walker
Elizabeth Crapper

Robert Walker
Elizabeth Crapper
💍 1894/2637

Bachelor
Spinster

Journeyman

20
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
19 years

House of Rev. James Crapper

94/2813

John Walker, father of groom; James Crapper, father of bride

13 August 1894

Rev. John Jones

No	56
Date of Notice	13 August 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Walker	Elizabeth Crapper
	💍 1894/2637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journeyman
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. James Crapper
Folio	94/2813
Consent	John Walker, father of groom; James Crapper, father of bride
Date of Certificate	13 August 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Jones

25 August 1894

John McDonald Adamson
Catherine Henry

John McDonald Adamson
Catherine Henry
💍 1894/2617

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
19

Waikawa
Gladstone

3 years
1 month

House of Rev. Walter Rogers

94/2810

Francis Henry, father

25 August 1894

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	57
Date of Notice	25 August 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald Adamson	Catherine Henry
	💍 1894/2617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Waikawa	Gladstone
Length of Residence	3 years	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Walter Rogers
Folio	94/2810
Consent	Francis Henry, father
Date of Certificate	25 August 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

7 September 1894

John Henry Constable
Emily Sarah Walker

John Henry Constable
Emily Sarah Walker
💍 1894/4022

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

27
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

20 years
21 years

House of Rev. Andrew Walker

94/2958

7 September 1894

Rev. W. Woollass

No	58
Date of Notice	7 September 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Constable	Emily Sarah Walker
	💍 1894/4022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Andrew Walker
Folio	94/2958
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Woollass

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).