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 1493

District of Wellington 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
389	8 December 1894	Austin Seely Margaret Atherton Howlet	Austin Seeley Margaret Atherton Howlett 💍 1894/3350	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	37 28	Wellington Wellington	5 days 1 day	St. Peters Church	94/3467	10 December 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
390	10 December 1894	John Arthur Paine Marie Webb	John Arthur Paine Clarrie Webb 💍 1894/3351	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 months	St. Peters Church	94/3468	10 December 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
391	10 December 1894	Joseph Packer Fry Maria Anne Victoria Calcinai	Joseph Packer Fry Maria Anna Vittoria Calcinai 💍 1895/2921	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years	St. Marks Church	95/483	10 December 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
392	10 December 1894	Walter Andrews Elizabeth Scott Vircel	Walter Andrews Elizabeth Birral Scott Mather 💍 1894/3289	Bachelor Spinster	Brassfinisher	30 21	Wellington Wellington	2 months	House of Mr. Herkett	94/3509	10 December 1894	Rev. W. Shirer
393	10 December 1894	Frederick Sidney Pope Helen Christian Willis	Frederick Sidney Pope Helen Christian McNeill 💍 1895/3060	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk	25 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years	Scanlon Terrace	95/456	10 December 1894	Rev. J. Paterson
394	11 December 1894	Thomas Wilkes Melvina Growcott	Thomas Wilkes Melvina Growcott 💍 1894/3224	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	25 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years	House of Rev. J. K. Elliott, Tasman Street	94/3538	11 December 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
395	11 December 1894	Samuel Ford Alice Grindrod	Samuel Ford Alice Grindrod 💍 1894/3218	Bachelor Spinster	Sanitary Pipe Maker	32 25	Wellington Wellington	2 months 4 days	House of Rev. J. Guy, Webb Street	94/3532	11 December 1894	Rev. J. Guy
396	11 December 1894	Ono Andreas Sibye Augusta Wilhelmina Jackel	Otto Andreas Eubye Augusta Wilhelmina Jackel 💍 1894/3290	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	32 26	Wellington Wellington	2 years	House of Mr. Jackel, Vogel Town	94/3508	11 December 1894	Rev. W. Shirer
397	11 December 1894	Thomas Pascoe Bryant Annie Georgina Guret	Thomas Pascoe Bryant Annie Georgina Gwilt Stone 💍 1895/3064	Widower Spinster	Sheep Farmer	40 29	Ohariu Ohariu	2 years	Presbyterian Church, Willis Street	95/457	11 December 1894	Rev. J. Paterson
398	11 December 1894	Kenneth Cameron Elizabeth Martha Smith	Kenneth Cameron Julia Parr 💍 1894/4098	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	29 34	Wellington Wellington	2 years	Catholic Apostolic Church, Webb Street	94/3504	11 December 1894	Rev. W. I. Thoms
399	12 December 1894	William Tebere Rosina Granjine	William Sebire Rosina Granjux 💍 1894/2181	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	34 23	Wellington Wellington	2 years	St. Peters Church	94/3470	12 December 1894	Rev. W. C. Waters
400	12 December 1894	Julian James Coales Emma Matilda Heap	Jullian James Coates Emma Matilda Heap 💍 1894/3342	Bachelor Spinster	Electrician	23 22	Wellington Wellington	8 days 14 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/3460	12 December 1894	W. L. Wyatt
401	12 December 1894	Edward Percival Rishworth Georgina Patience Lackland	Edward Percival Rishworth Georgina Patience Lackland 💍 1894/3267	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 29	Wellington Wellington	2 years 3 days	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	94/3485	12 December 1894	Rev. J. S. Rishworth
402	12 December 1894	George William Drawbridge Edith Gambrill	George William Drawbridge Edith Gambrill 💍 1894/3296	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 25	Wellington Wellington	2 years	St. Pauls Cathedral	94/3575	12 December 1894	Rev. S. H. Croft
403	15 December 1894	William Frederick Ward Kate Gardiner McRae	William Frederick Ward Kate Gardner McRae 💍 1894/3217	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	27 29	Wellington Wellington	2 years 4 days	St. Marks Church	94/3522	15 December 1894	Rev. R. Coffey

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).