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 1065

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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
291	6 September 1894	William John Gandy Mary Cannon	William John Garrett Mary Cannon 💍 1894/2394	Widower Spinster	Butcher	42 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Gaskell, Courtenay Place	94/2524		6 September 1894	Rev. J. Barnett
292	7 September 1894	George Bedford Ellen Crammond	George Bedford Ellen Crammond 💍 1894/2336	Widower Spinster	Umbrella Maker	43 23	Wellington Wellington	years 3 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2489		7 September 1894	W. J. Wray
293	8 September 1894	Edward Hughes Annie Farole	Edward Hughes Annie Sawle 💍 1894/2337	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	35 32	Wellington Wellington	9 months 9 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2490		8 September 1894	W. J. Wray
294	11 September 1894	Thomas Sydney Newcombe Emily Kelmister	Thomas Sydney Newcombe Emily Kilmister 💍 1894/2402	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Wellington Wellington	3 years years	House of Mr. Glenbervie	94/2531	John Kelmister, Father	11 September 1894	Rev. James Guy
295	11 September 1894	Oreste Lanciotto Antidoro Vincenzo Ferreni Alice Amelia Soffe	Oreste Lanciotto Antidoro Vincenzo Terreni Alice Amelia Soffe 💍 1894/2737	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Soffe, Kent Terrace	94/3011		11 September 1894	Rev. Josiah Ward
296	12 September 1894	Thomas Riddle Herd Ada Lucretia Morley	Thomas Riddle Herd Ada Lucretia Morley 💍 1894/2388	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Morley, Cambridge Terrace	94/2509		12 September 1894	Rev. J. H. Elliott
297	12 September 1894	Walter Stephen Dudley Cecilia Graham Haes	Walter Stephen Dudson Cecilia Graham Huett 💍 1894/2510	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	24 27	Wellington Wellington	3 days years	St. Mary's Cathedral	94/2534		12 September 1894	Rev. J. Dawson
298	13 September 1894	Ernest Batchelor Alice Louisa Hornby	Ernest Batchelor Alice Louisa Hornby 💍 1894/4111	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 29	Wellington Wellington	years 6 days	St. Mark's Church	94/2520		13 September 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
299	14 September 1894	Braseli Innocente Eugenia Falleni	Braseli Innoconte Ugenia Falleni 💍 1894/2338	Bachelor Spinster	Image Maker	31 19	Wellington Wellington	6 months years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2491	Luigi Falleni, Father	14 September 1894	W. J. Wray
300	15 September 1894	William Henry Bishop Ann Holloway	William Henry Bishop Ann Holloway 💍 1894/2734	Widower Spinster	Coach Builder	42 39	Petone Petone	years 1 month	House of Mr. Arnold, Petone	94/3009		15 September 1894	Rev. A. Thomson
301	18 September 1894	Arthur Alfred Hobbs Charlotte Roper Martin	Arthur Alfred Hobbs Charlotte Roper Martin 💍 1894/2339	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Khandallah Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/2492	Sarah Elizabeth Redder, Guardian	18 September 1894	W. J. Wray
302	22 September 1894	Thomas Roberts Annie Elizabeth Bassey	Thomas Roberts Annie Elizabeth Bassett 💍 1894/2325	Bachelor Spinster	Flesher	32 24	Petone Petone	years years	Church of Christ, Petone	94/2500		22 September 1894	Mr. A. F. Turner
303	22 September 1894	Thompson Price Barbara May	Thomson Bruce Barbara Henderson May 💍 1894/3442	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	28 26	Johnsonville Johnsonville	years years	House of Mr. Henderson, Mow Street	94/3548		22 September 1894	Rev. B. L. Nallowes
304	25 September 1894	Augustus Thompson May Trimmer	Augustus Thompson May Trimmer 💍 1894/2395	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	41 28	Wellington Wellington	years 9 days	House of Mr. R. Baimgar, Sussex Square	94/2525		25 September 1894	Rev. James Guy
305	25 September 1894	Richard Alfred Rolland Lizzie Goodwin	Richard Alfred Bolland Lizzie Goodwin 💍 1894/2391	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	94/2521	Frank Goodwin, Father	25 September 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).