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 1324

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1894 Registrar Thomas Kirk

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

18 October 1894

John Watherson
Rachael Hall

John Watkinson
Rachel Hall
💍 1894/3076

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
30

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
2 months

In the house of Mr. William Hall, Hamilton

94/3225

18 October 1894

Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	18 October 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Watherson	Rachael Hall
BDM Match (85%)	John Watkinson	Rachel Hall
	💍 1894/3076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. William Hall, Hamilton
Folio	94/3225
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

14 December 1894

Henry Jamison Austin
Georgea Helena Murray

Henry Jamison Austin
Georgea Helena Winifred Murray
💍 1894/3077

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
28

Pokeno
Hamilton

About 30 years
17 years

In the house of Mr. J. M. Murray, Hamilton

94/3226

14 December 1894

Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	14 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jamison Austin	Georgea Helena Murray
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Jamison Austin	Georgea Helena Winifred Murray
	💍 1894/3077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Pokeno	Hamilton
Length of Residence	About 30 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. M. Murray, Hamilton
Folio	94/3226
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

19 December 1894

William Cockhead
Eliza Jane Vowless

William Cockhead
Eliza Jane Vowless
💍 1894/3054

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
24

Hamilton East
Hamilton East

20 years
24 years

In the house of Mr. Walter Coop, Peaks Road

94/3227

19 December 1894

Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	19 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cockhead	Eliza Jane Vowless
	💍 1894/3054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton East	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Walter Coop, Peaks Road
Folio	94/3227
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hendrie, Presbyterian

22 December 1894

William Henry Park
Minnie Zellman

William Henry Park
Minnie Zellman
💍 1894/3055

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Miller

24
19

Whata Whata
Near Ngaruawahia

18 months
6 months

In the Office of the Registrar, Hamilton

94/3228

Ludwig Zellman, Father

22 December 1894

Thomas Kirk, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	22 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Park	Minnie Zellman
	💍 1894/3055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Miller
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Whata Whata	Near Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	18 months	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar, Hamilton
Folio	94/3228
Consent	Ludwig Zellman, Father
Date of Certificate	22 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Thomas Kirk, Registrar

24 December 1894

Henry Severs Biggs
Kate Radcliff Jolly

Henry Ivers Biggs
Kate Rudcliffe Jolly
💍 1894/3745

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

34
23

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
Since Church Built

In St. Peter's Church, Hamilton

94/4059

24 December 1894

Rev. R. C. Biggs, Episcopalian

No	23
Date of Notice	24 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Severs Biggs	Kate Radcliff Jolly
BDM Match (89%)	Henry Ivers Biggs	Kate Rudcliffe Jolly
	💍 1894/3745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	Since Church Built
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church, Hamilton
Folio	94/4059
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. C. Biggs, Episcopalian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).