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 193

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
47	1 February 1894	Robert Morling Jessie Dean	Robert Morling Carpenter Jessie Dean 💍 1894/488	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	47 31	Wellington Wellington	years	Registrars office, Wellington	94/489	1 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
48	1 February 1894	John Hughes Gardner Emily Elizabeth Adams	John Hughes Gardner Emily Elizabeth Adams 💍 1894/489	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years Weeks	Registrars office, Wellington	94/490	1 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
49	2 February 1894	Alexander Miller Hannah Smith	Alexander Miller Hannah Smith 💍 1894/490	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	27 22	Wellington Wellington	months	Registrars office, Wellington	94/491	2 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
50	2 February 1894	Enoch Grosby Ellen Josephine Kennedy	Enoch Crosby Ellen Josephine Kennedy 💍 1894/545	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	26 24	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary of the Angels	94/419	2 February 1894	Very Rev. J. C. Perry
51	2 February 1894	Eugene McCarthy Jane Caroline Wheeler	Eugene McCarthy Jane Caroline Wheeler 💍 1894/544	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 32	Wellington Wellington	years	St. Mary of the Angels	94/418	2 February 1894	Rev. W. Goggan
52	3 February 1894	David Boyce Emily Clara Mason	David Boyes Emily Clara Mason 💍 1894/480	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Wellington Wellington	5 weeks	Registrars office, Wellington	94/492	3 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
53	3 February 1894	Frederick Brunning Mary Morris	Frederick Bruning Mary Morris 💍 1894/481	Widower Widow	Dairy Farmer	50 43	Khandallah Wellington	1 Week months	Registrars office, Wellington	94/493	3 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
54	5 February 1894	Charles Milligan Sarah Ann Cartwright	Garlies Milligan Sarah Ann Cartwright 💍 1894/482	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 3 days	Wellington	94/494	5 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
55	5 February 1894	Alois Klenner Mary Ellen Manallack	Alois Klemner Mary Ellen Manallack 💍 1894/978	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 21	Wellington Wellington	10 days	St. Pauls Cathedral	94/1009	5 February 1894	Rev. D. H. Sprott
56	6 February 1894	Jacob Grange Bertha Sarah Avery	Jacob Geange Bertha Sarah Avery 💍 1894/4059	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	24 26	Upper Hutt Julia	years	Registrars office, Wellington	94/495	6 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
57	9 February 1894	William Herbert Montague Louise Ann Blakemore	William Herbert Montague Louise Ann Blakemore 💍 1894/4060	Bachelor Widow	Miller	48 44	Wellington Wellington	1 Week years	Registrars office, Wellington	94/496	9 February 1894	W. D. W. Yall
58	9 February 1894	Charles Stuart Holmes McKenney Elizabeth Ann Leggett	Charles Stuart Holmes McKinney Elizabeth Ann Leggett 💍 1894/1063	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	37 25	Auckland Wellington	years	St. Andrews Church, Auckland	94/1048	9 February 1894	Rev. C. S. Ogg
59	13 February 1894	Charlie Aplin Eliza Ann Flintoff	Charlie Aplin Eliza Ann Flintoff Willard 💍 1894/465	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Crofton Wellington	years	House of Mr. Willard, George Street	94/458	13 February 1894	Rev. R. J. Murray
60	13 February 1894	Richard Pattison Elizabeth Whitehild	Richard Pattison Elizabeth Whitehill 💍 1894/449	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 24	Wellington Pa Galene from Lyall Bay	6 days 2 days	Wesley Parsonage, Wellington	94/437	13 February 1894	Rev. J. J. Lewis
61	13 February 1894	James Walker Boulton Elizabeth Mary Ruster	James Walker Boulton Elizabeth Mary Rutter 💍 1894/981	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 28	Pahautanui Wadestown	years	St. Pauls Cathedral	94/1009	13 February 1894	Rev. D. H. Sprott

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).