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 014

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1894

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

19 February 1894

Samuel Gray Sweetman
Anna Rhoda Sweetman

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
23

Epsom
Bombay

6 years
4 years

St. Andrews Church

94/61

19 February 1894

Rev. M. S. Hulme, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	19 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gray Sweetman	Anna Rhoda Sweetman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Epsom	Bombay
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	94/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. S. Hulme, Church of England

19 February 1894

Thomas Corlett Willis
Susan Sarah Willis

Thomas Corlett
Susan Jane Willis
💍 1894/102

Bachelor
Widow

Blacksmith

34
32

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
32 years

Registrar's Office

94/124

19 February 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	79
Date of Notice	19 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Corlett Willis	Susan Sarah Willis
BDM Match (72%)	Thomas Corlett	Susan Jane Willis
	💍 1894/102
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/124
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

21 February 1894

Murdoch McKenzie
Lillie McKenzie

Murdoch McKenzie
Lillie McKenzie
💍 1894/243

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

35
28

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
14 years

Home of Mrs. McKenzie, 114 Eden Crescent, Auckland

94/30

21 February 1894

Rev. A. Carrick, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	21 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch McKenzie	Lillie McKenzie
	💍 1894/243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Home of Mrs. McKenzie, 114 Eden Crescent, Auckland
Folio	94/30
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Carrick, Presbyterian

23 February 1894

Walter Stewart Peek
Clara Beatrice Peek

Walter Stewart
Clara Beatrice Peek
💍 1894/817

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

24
23

Arch Hill
Ellerslie

20 years
10 years

St. John's College, Remuera

94/769

23 February 1894

Rev. P. S. Smallfield, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	23 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stewart Peek	Clara Beatrice Peek
BDM Match (87%)	Walter Stewart	Clara Beatrice Peek
	💍 1894/817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Arch Hill	Ellerslie
Length of Residence	20 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. John's College, Remuera
Folio	94/769
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. S. Smallfield, Church of England

26 February 1894

Samuel Goodman
Mabel March

Samuel Goodman
Mabel Marsh
💍 1894/135

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
6 years

Registrar's Office

94/125

26 February 1894

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	26 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Goodman	Mabel March
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Goodman	Mabel Marsh
	💍 1894/135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/125
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1894
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

26 February 1894

Gideon Clarke
Sophia Garland

Gideon Clarke
Sophia Garland
💍 1894/231

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

30
28

Auckland
Devonport

30 years
3 months

St. Matthews Church

94/40

26 February 1894

Rev. A. Fitzwilliam, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	26 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gideon Clarke	Sophia Garland
	💍 1894/231
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Devonport
Length of Residence	30 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church
Folio	94/40
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fitzwilliam, Church of England

26 February 1894

George Henry Crocombe
Frances Kate Goodwin

George Henry Crocombe
Francis Kate Goodwin
💍 1894/575

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

25
24

Mt. Eden
Auckland

11 years
10 years

House of R. P. Goodwin, 10 Exeter Street, Newton

94/593

26 February 1894

Rev. J. Blaikie, Baptist

No	84
Date of Notice	26 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Crocombe	Frances Kate Goodwin
BDM Match (98%)	George Henry Crocombe	Francis Kate Goodwin
	💍 1894/575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Mt. Eden	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of R. P. Goodwin, 10 Exeter Street, Newton
Folio	94/593
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blaikie, Baptist

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).