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 1392

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1894 Registrar Joseph Bell (Deputy)

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
101	27 October 1894	Robert Carr Jnr Catherine Maryann Gillespie	Robert Carr Catherine Mary Ann Gillespie 💍 1894/3118	Widower Spinster	Settler	40 30	Ruatangata Whangarei	9 months 3 days	Church of England: Wangarei	94/3272		27 October 1894	Rev. L. L. Cubitt, Episcopalian
102	30 October 1894	James Rouse Ethel Charlotte Baylis	James Rouse Ethel Charlotte Baylis 💍 1894/3862	Bachelor Spinster	Gum-digger	22 18	Hukerenui South Hukerenui South	6 years 7 years	Residence of Thomas Henry Baylis	94/4174	Thomas H Baylis, Father of Bride	30 October 1894	Rev. J. H. Hawkes, Episcopalian
103	8 November 1894	Nathan Maihi Sophia Nihua	Nathan Maihi Sophia Nehua 💍 1894/2947	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Wangarei Taharoa: Wangarei	1 month 21 years	Registrars Office, Wangarei	94/3266		8 November 1894	Joseph Bell, Deputy Registrar
104	8 November 1894	Theodore Jackson Mary Annie Margarette McDonald	Theodore Jackson Mary Ann Margarette McDonald 💍 1894/3113	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	28 27	Wangarei Whau Whau, Wangarei	5 days 27 years	Presbyterian Church, Wangarei	94/3269		8 November 1894	Revd. James T Pinfold, Wesleyan
105	13 November 1894	Carl Jorgen Rasmussen Whilmina Rebecca Anderson	Carl Jorgen Rasmussen Whilmina Rebecca Anderson 💍 1894/2950	Widower Widow	Storekeeper	46 36	Hikurangi Wangarei	25 years 6 years	Registrars Office, Wangarei	94/3267		13 November 1894	Joseph Bell, Deputy Registrar
106	21 November 1894	Edwin Rushforth Anne Georgina Jones	[Name Edwin Rushforth Gender Male Marriage Year 1894 Marriage Place New Zealand Spouse Anne Georgina Jones Relation Bridegroom Folio Number 4183]	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	38 23	Ngunguru Wharehora	1 year 2 months	Residence of David Jones, Wharehora	See attached Memo.		21 November 1894	Rev. James Mackie, Presbyterian
107	11 December 1894	Arthur McDonald Mary McInnes	Arthur McDonald Mary McInnes 💍 1894/3119	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Proprietor	21 1/2 25	Hikurangi Kaurihohore	20 years 25 years	Presbyterian Church, Kaurihohore	94/3273		11 December 1894	Rev. J. H. Hawkes, Episcopalian
108	24 December 1894	Francis James Turney Rosalind Hare Rust	Francis James Turney Rosalind Hare Rust 💍 1894/3102	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Doctor	28 23	Whangarei Whangarei	3 days 23 years	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei	94/3268		24 December 1894	Rev. James Mackie, Presbyterian

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 1899. 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).