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 1492

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
344	2 November 1894	Charles Etheridge Sarah Emma Wall	Charles Etheridge Saidlay Sarah Emma Wall 💍 1894/3308	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Wellington Porirua	4 days years	Anglican Church, Te Aro Flat	94/3503	2 November 1894	Ven. Archdeacon Fancourt
345	3 November 1894	William Edward Foxward Clara Lucy Buckeridge	William Edward Toxward Clara Lucy Buckeridge 💍 1894/3209	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3445	3 November 1894	M. D. Wyatt
346	5 November 1894	Charles Henry Parker Sarah Annie Berry	Charles Henry Parker Mary O'Neill 💍 1894/375	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	47 39	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 1 Week	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3447	5 November 1894	M. D. Wyatt
347	6 November 1894	John Hore Lucy Cecilia Helen Demment	John Hore Lily Cecilia Helen Demment 💍 1894/3295	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	37 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Cathedral	94/3514	6 November 1894	Rev. J. H. Sprott
348	6 November 1894	Henry Pycroft Ada Swindell	Henry Pycroft Ada Swindell 💍 1894/3354	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3448	6 November 1894	W. D. Wyatt
349	6 November 1894	John McMillan Nina O'Connell	John McMillan Norah O'Connell 💍 1894/3305	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	94/3500	6 November 1894	Very Rev. J. D. Devoy
350	6 November 1894	Thomas Gillespie Elinor Susan Hooper	Thomas Gillespie Elinor Susan Hooper 💍 1894/3281	Widower Widow	Contractor	40 42	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	Primitive Methodist Church, Porirua	94/3476	6 November 1894	Rev. J. Barnett
352	8 November 1894	Walter Alfred Bowater Flora Flockton	Walter Alfred Bowater Flora Flockton 💍 1894/3273	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of M. Flockton, Tory Street	94/3491	8 November 1894	Rev. C. Tallaston
353	8 November 1894	Robert Blair Caroline Emma Richardson	Robert Blair Caroline Emma Richardson 💍 1894/3662	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Parsonage, Riddiford Street	94/3968	8 November 1894	Rev. Josiah Ward
354	12 November 1894	Joseph James Murray Eva Mary Helena Fisher	Joseph James Murray Eva Mary Helena Fisher 💍 1894/3285	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	94/3480	12 November 1894	Rev. W. Baumber
355	12 November 1894	John Mitchell Harriet Pinny	John Mitchell Harriet Pinny 💍 1894/3286	Widower Spinster	Salesman	30 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street	94/3481	12 November 1894	Rev. W. Baumber
356	13 November 1894	John James Garrow Annie Hart	John James Yarrow Baber Annie Hart 💍 1894/3356	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	35 28	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3450	13 November 1894	W. D. Wyatt
357	6 November 1894	Hugh Lamont Greer Elizabeth Moore	Hugh Lamont Greer Elizabeth Moore 💍 1894/3355	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	28 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3449	6 November 1894	W. D. Wyatt
357	13 November 1894	David Sealey Christina Johnson	David Sealey Christina Johnson 💍 1894/3357	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 21	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/3451	13 November 1894	W. D. Wyatt
358	14 November 1894	Maxwell Munro Elizabeth Constance May Corkill	Maxwell Morrow Carpenter Elizabeth Constance Mary Carkeek 💍 1894/3310	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Presbyterian Church, Adelaide Road	94/3505	14 November 1894	Rev. W. Shirer

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).