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 1426

District of Napier 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
116	19 December 1894	Ernest Richards Minnie Walton	Ernest Richards Minnie Walton 💍 1894/3156	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Music Teacher	24 24	Napier Napier	18 Months 3 Years	Bridegroom's Residence, Suckling Terrace, Napier	94/3337		19 December 1894	Rev. W. H. Beck, Wesleyan
117	20 December 1894	John De La Hays Emily Taylor	John De La Haye Emily Taylor 💍 1895/2770	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 27	Woodville Napier	18 Years 30 days 20 Years	The Cathedral, Napier	95/284		20 December 1894	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
118	21 December 1894	Alexander McLean Jane McCallum	Alexander McLean Jane McCallum 💍 1894/3891 Samuel McLean Annie McCallum 💍 1894/4045 Alexander Bowman Mary Ellen McCallum 💍 1895/3081	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	29 18	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	6 Years 18 Years	Residence of the Bride's father, Hardinge Road	94/4128	Father	21 December 1894	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
119	22 December 1894	William Depriez Bridget Monahan	William Defriez Bridget Monahan 💍 1894/3817	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	28 27	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	4 Years 19 Years	St. Mary's Catholic Chapel, Napier	94/4032		22 December 1894	Rev. W. H. Grogan, R. C. Priest
120	24 December 1894	Albert Williams Kathleen Bennett	Albert Williams Kathleen Bennett 💍 1895/3938	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	29 26	Rissington Rissington	20 Years 3 Months	English Church, Taradale	95/289		24 December 1894	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England
121	27 December 1894	Brittin Brittin Angelina Williams	Brittin Brittin Angelina Williams 💍 1894/3149	Bachelor Divorced	Shepherd	44 31	Kereru Clive	3 Years 14 Years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hastings	94/3350		27 December 1894	Registrar of Marriages, Hastings
122	28 December 1894	Walter Atterbury Ethel Jane Foster Hill	Walter Atterbury Ethel Jane Forster Hill 💍 1895/2769	Bachelor Spinster	Medical Practitioner	38 28	Napier Napier	4 Weeks 4 Months	The Cathedral, Napier	95/283		28 December 1894	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
123	31 December 1894	Carl Peterson Lindegreen Caroline Smythe	Carl Petersen Lindegreen Caroline Smyth 💍 1894/3155	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Shop Assistant	22 23	Napier Napier	20 Years 4 Months	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	94/3336		31 December 1894	S. J. Jago, Registrar
124	31 December 1894	John Carson Adelaide Grace Tregea	John Carsow Adelaide Grace Tregia 💍 1894/3831	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	29 26	Napier Napier	6 Weeks 3 Weeks	Presbyterian Church, Napier	94/4129		31 December 1894	Rev. J. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

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 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).