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 1371

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1894 Registrar H. Tomiss

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

17 November 1894

Martin Hodge
Agnes Elizabeth Clark

Martin Hodge
Anes Elizabeth Clark
💍 1894/3972

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

22
22

Thames
Thames

22 years
21 years

The Dwelling of Rev. J. Olphert, Richmond

94/3255

17 November 1894

Rev. John Olphert, Primitive Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	17 November 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Hodge	Agnes Elizabeth Clark
BDM Match (98%)	Martin Hodge	Anes Elizabeth Clark
	💍 1894/3972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Rev. J. Olphert, Richmond
Folio	94/3255
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Olphert, Primitive Methodist

29 November 1894

Alfred Harrison
Katie In-Duff

Alfred Harrison
Katie McDuff
💍 1894/2954

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
None

22
21

Thames
Thames

5 years
21 years

The Dwelling of William In-Duff, Mount Pleasant

94/3248

29 November 1894

Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

No	35
Date of Notice	29 November 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Harrison	Katie In-Duff
BDM Match (88%)	Alfred Harrison	Katie McDuff
	💍 1894/2954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	None
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of William In-Duff, Mount Pleasant
Folio	94/3248
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1894
Officiating Minister	Edmund Harvey Taylor, Church of Christ

4 December 1894

James Frederick Curtes
Alice Bellings

James Frederick Curtis
Alice Billings
💍 1894/3973

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
None

24
22

Thames
Thames

16 years
22 years

The Dwelling of Charles William, Parawai

94/3256

4 December 1894

Rev. John Olphert, Primitive Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	4 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Frederick Curtes	Alice Bellings
BDM Match (94%)	James Frederick Curtis	Alice Billings
	💍 1894/3973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	None
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	16 years	22 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of Charles William, Parawai
Folio	94/3256
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Olphert, Primitive Methodist

4 December 1894

John Thomas Brown
Jane Gillan

John Thomas Brown
Jane Gillan
💍 1894/3070

Bachelor
Spinster

Haymiller
Haymiller

23
24

Puriri
Puriri

5 years
10 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages

94/3242

4 December 1894

Edward Tomiss, Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	4 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Brown	Jane Gillan
	💍 1894/3070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Haymiller	Haymiller
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	94/3242
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Edward Tomiss, Registrar

5 December 1894

Samuel Ewe Macaulay
Mary Jane Fairgray

Samuel Ure Macaulay
Mary Jane Fairgray
💍 1894/2957

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
None

34
27

Auckland
Thames

3 years

The Dwelling of June Renshaw, Willoughby St.

94/3257

5 December 1894

Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

No	38
Date of Notice	5 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ewe Macaulay	Mary Jane Fairgray
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Ure Macaulay	Mary Jane Fairgray
	💍 1894/2957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	None
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence		3 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling of June Renshaw, Willoughby St.
Folio	94/3257
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. R. Woolley, Baptist

8 December 1894

Cornelius William Yedden
Susannah Woodhams

Cornelius William Vedder
Susannah Woodhams
💍 1894/2953

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

21
19

Thames
Thames

8 years
19 years

St. George's Church, Mackay St.

94/3249

Henry Woodhams, Father

8 December 1894

Rev. J. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	8 December 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius William Yedden	Susannah Woodhams
BDM Match (96%)	Cornelius William Vedder	Susannah Woodhams
	💍 1894/2953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Mackay St.
Folio	94/3249
Consent	Henry Woodhams, Father
Date of Certificate	8 December 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Callaghan, 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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).