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 1466

District of Masterton 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
49	1 October 1894	Frederick Charles Lewis Phillis Margaret Lewis	Frederick Charles Lewis Phillis Margaret Lowes 💍 1894/3039	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	28 21	Masterton Masterton	18 Months 5 weeks	Presbyterian Church, Masterton	94/3387		1 October 1894	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian Minister
50	1 October 1894	Mark Isaac Bangor Brooks Louise Rosseter	Mark Isaac Bangor Brooks Louise Bassiter 💍 1894/3048	Bachelor Spinster	Lime burner	20 17	Mauriceville Mauriceville	2 years 3 days	Lutheran Church, Mauriceville	94/3373	J. Brooks, father of groom; J. Rosseter, father of bride	1 October 1894	Rev. Johannes Johansen Legarth, Lutheran Minister
51	3 October 1894	Robert Thomas Holmes Maud Boys	Robert Thomas Holmes Maud Boys 💍 1894/3293	Widower Spinster	Stationer	62 36	Masterton Wellington	4 Months 3 days	Saint Pauls Cathedral, Wellington	94/3571		3 October 1894	Rev. Thomas Honey Sprott, Church of England Minister
52	13 October 1894	William Edward Ferlett Amy Yates	William Edward Corlett Amy Yates 💍 1894/3038	Bachelor Spinster	Waggoner	22 16	Masterton Upper Plain	2 years 2 years	Church of England, Masterton	94/3386	No one authorized, 14 days delayed	13 October 1894	Rev. A. B. Yorke, Church of England Minister
53	20 October 1894	John McConnell Anne Laing	John McConnell Anne Laing 💍 1894/3042	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	31 33	Masterton Masterton	11 months 12 months	House of Wesleyan, Villa Street, Masterton	94/3389		20 October 1894	Rev. John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
54	24 October 1894	Mads Nider Hazard Mary Morney	Mads Peder Roigard Mary Mooney 💍 1894/3036	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	24 22	Masterton Mauriceville	3 days 3 Months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Masterton	94/3384		24 October 1894	Rev. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
55	29 October 1894	James McCandle Alice Maud Darsh	James McCardle Alice Maude Dorset 💍 1894/3037	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Mauriceville Mauriceville	4 days 2 Months	House of Mr. W. Darsh, Mauriceville	94/3385		29 October 1894	Rev. John McKenna, Roman Catholic Priest
56	31 October 1894	Donald McKenzie Isabella Williamson	Donald McKenzie Isabella Williamson 💍 1894/3034	Widower Spinster	Farmer	59 38	Huripune Herepune	32 years 3 Months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Masterton	94/3382		31 October 1894	John Bagge, Registrar of Marriages
57	10 November 1894	Henry Thomas Reed Bessie Greathead	Henry Thomas Rees Bessie Grenthend 💍 1894/3043	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	27 23	Dannevirke Masterton	2 years 2 weeks	House of Mr. W. Greathead, Queen Street, Masterton	94/3390		10 November 1894	Rev. John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister
58	26 November 1894	William George Butcher Caroline Hiddington	William George Butcher Caroline Liddington 💍 1894/3044	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 24	Masterton Masterton	2 years 2 weeks	House of Mr. W. Hiddington, Clareville	94/3391		26 November 1894	Rev. John Dukes, Wesleyan Minister

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).