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 737

District of Quiriamm Quarter ending 30 June 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
24	22 May 1894	Timothy O'Shea Annie O'Rourke	Timothy O'Shea Annie O'Rourke 💍 1894/1839	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 25	Quiriamm Quiriamm	8 years 13 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Quiriamm	94/1767		22 May 1894	Rev. Louis Duthie, Roman Catholic Priest
25	29 May 1894	Alexander Finlay Campbell Annie Fraser Smith	Alexander Finlay Campbell Annie Fraser Smith 💍 1894/4196	Bachelor Spinster	Hammer	26 23	Satara Valley Pleasant Point	13 years 6 months	Presbyterian Church, Satara Valley	94/2080		29 May 1894	Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian Minister
26	31 May 1894	David Shillito Kennett Matilda Elizabeth Campbell Butcher	David Shillito Rennett Matilda Elizabeth Campbell Butcher 💍 1894/1852	Bachelor Not heard of husband for 17 years - Married to George Wade Butcher in year 1872	Labourer	34 44	Quiriamm Quiriamm	22 years 18 years	Registrar's Office, Quiriamm	94/1756		31 May 1894	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quiriamm
27	2 June 1894	James Curry Florence Selina Williams	James Curry Florence Selina Williams 💍 1894/1853	Bachelor Spinster	Hammer	30 21	Quiriamm Quiriamm	4 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Quiriamm	94/1757		2 June 1894	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quiriamm
28	4 June 1894	Parkin Bower Lilias Mann	Parkin Bower Lilian Mann 💍 1894/2013	Bachelor Spinster	Cloth Weaver	25 18	Quiriamm Kensington	6 years 18 years	Residence of Mr. John Mann, Kensington	94/1999	John Mann, Father	4 June 1894	Rev. Charles Philip Brown, Baptist Minister
29	5 June 1894	Thomas Sutton Sarah Ann Harton	Thomas Sutton Sarah Ann Karton 💍 1894/1838	Bachelor Widow	Engine Driver	34 40	Quiriamm Quiriamm	7 months 17 years	Residence of Mrs. Sarah Ann Harton, Quiriamm	94/1766		5 June 1894	Rev. Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
30	6 June 1894	John Thomas Dean Hester Mary Elizabeth Dincen	John Thomas Dean Hester Mary Elizabeth Dineen 💍 1894/1831	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 22	Quiriamm Quiriamm	4 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Quiriamm	94/1758		6 June 1894	Thomas Hawley, Registrar of Marriages, Quiriamm
31	11 June 1894	Edmund Joseph Grey Ellen Jessie Bloomfield	Edmund Joseph Grey Ellen Jessie Bloomfield 💍 1894/1835	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Cleaner Dressmaker	44 26	Quiriamm Quiriamm	3 years 18 years	Wesleyan Church, Quiriamm	94/1762		11 June 1894	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
32	18 June 1894	John Fowler Elizabeth Ann Tregenza	John Fowler Elizabeth Ann Tregenza 💍 1894/1836	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	46 23	Claremont Fairview	16 years 2 months	Residence of Mr. Edward Tregenza, Fairview	94/1763		18 June 1894	Rev. Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
33	28 June 1894	Herbert Edward Mc. Jowan Margaret Davidson Cochrane	Herbert Edward McGowan Margaret Davidson Cochrane 💍 1894/1843	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Manager	23 24	Quiriamm Quiriamm	3 days 6 months	Residence of Miss Elizabeth Cochrane, Quiriamm	94/1770		28 June 1894	Rev. William Gillies, Presbyterian Minister

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).