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 195

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
77	28 February 1894	John Bramley Amy Mary Wiffin	John Bramley Amy Mary Wilfin 💍 1894/535	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	24 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/502	Arthur George Wiffin, Father	28 February 1894	W. D. Wyatt
78	1 March 1894	George Isaac Bengo Elizabeth Mabey	George Isaac Benge Elizabeth Mabey 💍 1894/458	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 21	Mumgaroa Upper Hutt	years years	Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt	94/469		1 March 1894	Rev. Andrew Gray
79	1 March 1894	Arthur Newbold Grace Isabella Goder	Arthur Newbold Grace Isabella Gooder 💍 1894/4057	Widower Spinster	Accountant	31 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Goder, Kent Terrace	94/426		1 March 1894	Rev. W. H. Beck
80	1 March 1894	Frederick Henry Meyer Edith Annie Surril	Frederick Henry Meyer Edith Annie Twist 💍 1894/2002	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	94/1988	John Surril, father	1 March 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
81	2 March 1894	William Frank Newson Helen Clarke Robertson	William Frank Neuson Helen Clark Robertson 💍 1894/445	Bachelor Spinster	Tailors Cutter	23 21	Wellington Wellington	10 months years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	94/455		2 March 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
82	5 March 1894	John Barker Ellen Brenda Cooper	John Barker Ellen Brenda Cooper 💍 1894/472	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	27 19	Wellington Karori	4 days years	St. Marks Church, Karori	94/459	George Sisson Cooper, father	5 March 1894	Rev. A. G. Dawson
83	5 March 1894	James There Mary Ann Hood	James Sleere Mary Ann Hood 💍 1894/536 James Dunn Margaret Ann Hood 💍 1894/2145	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	30 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/503		5 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt
84	5 March 1894	James Brew Florence Maria Neale	James Crew Florence Maria Neale 💍 1894/557	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	29 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	St. Peters Church	94/431		5 March 1894	Rev. W. La Waters
85	6 March 1894	Thomas Simmonds Christina Nilson	Thomas Simmonds Christina Nilsson 💍 1894/537	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	26 37	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/504		6 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt
86	6 March 1894	William Clout Marion Stewart	William Clout Marion Stewart 💍 1894/517 William Job Martin Mary Stewart 💍 1895/2708	Widower Widow	Farmer	53 42	Lower Hutt Wellington	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/508		6 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt
87	7 March 1894	John Peter Olsen Elizabeth Ann Watson	John Peter Olsen Elizabeth Ann Watson 💍 1894/1526	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Watson, Home Street	94/1531	John Smith Watson, father	7 March 1894	Rev. A. Wallaston
88	7 March 1894	Charles Haynes Margaret Martin	Charles Haynes Margaret Martin 💍 1894/1065	Bachelor Spinster	Hair Dresser	26 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Grace, Bolton Street	94/1050		7 March 1894	Rev. C. J. Ogg
90	8 March 1894	Harry Valler Elizabeth Thornton	Harry Valler Elizabeth Thornton 💍 1894/538	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 28	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/505		8 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt
91	9 March 1894	Henry Lawrence Annie Pascoe	Henry Lawrence Annie Pascoe 💍 1894/539	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	42 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/506		9 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt
92	10 March 1894	Alexander McLeod Eliza Cochrane	Alexander McLeod Eliza Cochrane 💍 1894/540	Widower Spinster	Labourer	45 29	Wellington Wellington	2 months years	Registrars Office, Wellington	94/507		10 March 1894	W. D. Wyatt

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).