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 1420

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 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
20	6 October 1894	Frederick Emile List Ellen Hallparth	Frederick Emile List Ellen Hallgarth 💍 1894/3166	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	2 years 19 years	Church Hastings	94/3324	Ellen Hallparth, father	6 October 1894	Rev. Alex. Morrison
21	9 October 1894	Samuel McBurney Blanch Pollitt	Samuel McBurney Blanche Pollitt 💍 1894/3168	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	28 19	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	1 year 3 weeks	St. Matthews Church	94/3326	Blanch Pollitt, mother	9 October 1894	Rev. John Hobbs
22	19 October 1894	Michael Corbett Mary Creidon	Michael Corbett Mary Creedon 💍 1894/3885	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	37 26	Hastings Hawke Bay Clive	3 days 1 year	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	94/4123	Mary Creidon, father	19 October 1894	Rev. Father Smyth
23	19 November 1894	Thomas Ramsay Alice Elizabeth Prue	Thomas Ramsay Alice Elizabeth Prue 💍 1894/3164	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 22	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	9 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church Havelock	94/3322		19 November 1894	Rev. R. Fraser
24	23 November 1894	James O'Connor Honora Cahill	James OConnor Honora Cahill 💍 1894/3887	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable	43 32	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	4 months 10 days	Roman Catholic Church Hastings	94/4124		23 November 1894	Rev. Father Smyth
25	26 November 1894	Charles John Olson Catherine Ruth Masters	Charles John Olsen Catherine Ruth Masters 💍 1894/3169	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	30 17	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	5 years 1 year	St. Matthews Church Hastings	94/3327	Catherine Ruth Masters, father	26 November 1894	Rev. John Hobbs
26	30 November 1894	George Easton Mary Jack	George Horton Mary Agnes Jack 💍 1894/3167	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter	21 19	Hastings Hawke Bay Hastings Hawke Bay	2 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church Hastings	94/3325	Mary Jack, mother	30 November 1894	Rev. Alex. Morrison
27	1 December 1894	Benjamin Howlett Margaret Jamieson	Benjamin Howlett Margaret Jamieson 💍 1894/3165	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	42 28	Taradale Hawke Bay Havelock Hawke Bay	10 years 28 years	Presbyterian Napier	94/3323		1 December 1894	Rev. R. Fraser
28	11 December 1894	Minden Fenwick Constance Lawford	Minden Fenwicke Constance Lawford 💍 1894/3020	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 29	Tomahawk Bay Auckland	2 years 20 years	St. Pauls Auckland	94/3216		11 December 1894	Rev. C. M. Nelson
29	11 December 1894	Charles Alexander Smith Mildred Gwendoline Nelson	Charles Alexander Smith Mildred Gwendolyn Nelson 💍 1894/3147	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	25 20	Onga Onga Hawke Bay Waikoko Hawke Bay	2 years 4 years	St. Matthews Hastings	94/3328	Mildred Gwendoline Nelson, father	11 December 1894	Rev. Archdeacon S. Williams
30	14 December 1894	Stephen Ernest Collison Elizabeth Bridget Button	Stephen Ernest Collison Elizabeth Bridget Burton 💍 1895/2951	Bachelor Widow	Steward Fruiterer	28 40	Hastings Hastings	5 years 5 years	St. Matthews Hastings	See Notice		14 December 1894	Rev. John Hobbs
31	20 December 1894	William Thomas Collins Florence Lusgard	William Thomas Collins Florence Annie Storey 💍 1895/3080	Bachelor Spinster	Shop Assistant	27 24	Hastings Hastings	3 days 1 month	Registrar's Office Hastings	94/3976		20 December 1894	Rev. W. J. Elliott

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).