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 191

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
16	13 January 1894	Michael Joseph Hodgins Louise Mary Smith	Michael Joseph Hodgins Louise Mary Smith 💍 1894/460	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	94/471		13 January 1894	Rev. J. G. Dawson
17	13 January 1894	George Robert Woodmass Harriet Annababy	George Robert Woodmass Harriet Annie Mabey 💍 1894/457	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 26	Silver Stream Upper Hutt	years years	Scotch Church, Lower Hutt	94/468		13 January 1894	Rev. Andrew Gray
18	15 January 1894	Patrick Cloherty Elizabeth Brannan	Patrick Cloherty Elizabeth Brennan 💍 1894/564	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 27	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 month	St. Mary of the Angels	94/414		15 January 1894	Very Rev. J. Devoy
19	15 January 1894	Horace Herbert Touchman Emma Thelma Nicholson	Horace Herbert Couchman Emma Selina Nicholson 💍 1894/440	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	31 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Nicholson, Ghuznee Road	94/451	Thomas Nicholson, Father	15 January 1894	Rev. J. K. Elliott
20	15 January 1894	Dugald Stewart Jemima Flora Campbell	Dugald Stewart Jemima Flora Campbell 💍 1894/565	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 27	Wellington Wellington	40 days years	St. Joseph's, Buckle Street	94/415		15 January 1894	Rev. J. Paterson
21	15 January 1894	Frederick Rodger Isabel Sullivan	Frederick Rodger Isabell Sullivan 💍 1894/475	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	25 24	Wellington Wellington	9 months years	St. John's Parsonage, Woolcombe Street	94/462		15 January 1894	Rev. C. Dallaston
22	16 January 1894	Alfred Meated Jones Christina McInnes	Alfred Mexted Christina McInnes 💍 1894/433	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 23	Porirua Wellington	years years	House of Mr. McInnes, Melrose	94/444		16 January 1894	Rev. C. Dallaston
23	16 January 1894	Dugald John Cameron Ellen Murray	Dugald John Cameron Ellen Murray 💍 1894/559	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 20	Horokiwi Horokiwi	years years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	94/409	John Murray, Father	16 January 1894	Rev. John Lane
24	17 January 1894	George Reid Ada Ellen Watson	George Reid Ada Ellen Watson 💍 1894/439	Bachelor Spinster	Bacon Curer	22 18	Wellington Wellington	1 year years	House of Mrs. Watson, Abel Smith Street	94/450	Susan Watson, Mother	17 January 1894	Rev. Samuel Barnet
25	17 January 1894	Thomas Chambers Kate Chambers	Thomas Chambers Kate Chambers 💍 1894/471	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	34 31	Wellington Wellington	14 days years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/482		17 January 1894	W. T. Wyatt
26	17 January 1894	Arthur Sideman Marion Alice Tolley	Arthur Tidman Marion Alice Tolley 💍 1894/434	Bachelor Spinster	Expressman	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs. Tolley, Tory Street	94/445		17 January 1894	Rev. W. Goggan
27	20 January 1894	Michael Daly Lilian Mary Jane Jones	Michael Daly Lilian Mary Jane Jones 💍 1894/543	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary of the Angels	94/417	Susan Jones, Mother	20 January 1894	Rev. W. Goggan
28	20 January 1894	Richard Booth Dudley Mabel Tatton	Richard Borth Dudley Eyre Mabel Tatton 💍 1894/453	Bachelor Spinster	Customs Clerk	26 25	Wellington Wellington	15 months 3 days 15 months 3 days	St. Andrew's Church	94/442		20 January 1894	Rev. R. Coffey
29	20 January 1894	Thomas Henry Eastwood Sarah Ellen Whitehouse	Thomas Henry Eastwood Sarah Ellen Whitehouse 💍 1894/479	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	21 23	Ngahauranga Porirua	4 months years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	94/483		20 January 1894	W. T. Wyatt
30	20 January 1894	Francis Bernard Naughley Victoria Rowe	Frances Bernard Haughey Victoria Rowe 💍 1894/542	Bachelor Spinster	Chair Maker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	12 months 10 months	St. Mary of the Angels	94/416		20 January 1894	Rev. W. Goggan

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).