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 1423

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
99	29 October 1894	Michael Curtin Annie McNamara	Michael Curtin Annie McNamara 💍 1894/3161	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	36 28	Meanee Puketapu	7 years 8 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Meanee	94/3341		29 October 1894	Rev. F. Gardin, Roman Catholic Priest
100	29 October 1894	Daniel Thomas Williams Elizabeth Sewell	Daniel Thomas Williams Elizabeth Newill 💍 1894/3890 Thomas Williams Elizabeth McLeod 💍 1894/2579	Widower Widow	Master of Refuge Domestic	53 33	Napier Napier	20 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Napier	94/4129		29 October 1894	Rev. J.J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister
101	30 October 1894	John Denehy Bridget Hayden	John Dennehy Bridget Hayden 💍 1894/3719	Bachelor Widow	Laborer Boarding Housekeeper	28 39	Napier Napier	2 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	94/4028		30 October 1894	Rev. M. Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest
102	30 October 1894	Arthur Robertson Margaret McGlashan	Arthur Robertson Watson Margaret McGlasline 💍 1894/3889	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	30 26	Patutahi West Clive	3 years 4 days 20 years	Presbyterian Church, Napier	94/4126		30 October 1894	Rev. J.J. Paterson, Presbyterian Minister
103	2 November 1894	Albert Arthur Boden Catherine Hanson	Albert Arthur Boden Catherine Johnstone 💍 1894/3798	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	21 16	Napier Napier	9 years 8 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	94/4029	Deferred Certificate	16 November 1894	Rev. M. Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest
104	8 November 1894	Charles Cumming Edith Sophia Tanner	Charles Canning Edith Sophia Faunin 💍 1894/3849	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	22 27	Napier Napier	1 year 6 months	Cathedral, Napier	94/4134		8 November 1894	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
105	21 November 1894	Charles Thomas Leanwood Ellen O'Shea	Charles Winn Greenwood Ellen O'Shea 💍 1894/3809	Widower Spinster	Accountant	51 34	Napier Napier	10 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	94/4030		21 November 1894	Rev. M. Grogan, Roman Catholic Priest
106	21 November 1894	Sydney Cowrick Charlotte Ann Goodall	Sydney Cowlrick Charlotte Ann Goodall 💍 1894/3153	Widower Spinster	Clerk Domestic	49 20	Napier Napier	14 Years in the Office of the Registrar 2 years	Registrar's Office, Napier	94/3334	From authority signed by bride's father, attached	21 November 1894	S.J. Jago, Registrar
107	22 November 1894	John Anderson Miller Edith Agnes Peddie	John Anderson Miller Edith Agnes Peddie 💍 1894/3182	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 23	Napier Feilding	20 Years 3 Months	Church of England, Feilding	94/3363		22 November 1894	Rev. A.J. Jones, Church of England
108	27 November 1894	John Cattrach McLeod Emily Maria Snowsill	John Cattnach McLeod Emily Maria Snowsill 💍 1894/4128	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	30 20	Onga Onga Napier	28 years 4 days	English Church, West Clive	94/3555	Ellen Snowsill, Mother	27 November 1894	Canon H.R. St. Hill, Church of England

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).