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 012

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1894 Registrar E.H. Lyons

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

9 February 1894

John Evans
Catherine Mary Spence

John Evans
Catherine Mary Spence
💍 1894/96

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush Contractor

26
21

Cabbage Bay
Whangapoua

26 years
8 years

Registrar's Office

94/119

9 February 1894

E.H. Lyons, Registrar

No	64
Date of Notice	9 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Evans	Catherine Mary Spence
	💍 1894/96
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush Contractor
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Cabbage Bay	Whangapoua
Length of Residence	26 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/119
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1894
Officiating Minister	E.H. Lyons, Registrar

10 February 1894

Robert Mettam
Annie Redshaw

Robert Mettam
Annitta Redshaw
💍 1894/134

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason

24
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
18 years

House of Mrs J. Redshaw

94/119

Sarah Redshaw, mother

10 February 1894

Rev. J. Guy, Primitive Methodist

No	65
Date of Notice	10 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mettam	Annie Redshaw
BDM Match (90%)	Robert Mettam	Annitta Redshaw
	💍 1894/134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs J. Redshaw
Folio	94/119
Consent	Sarah Redshaw, mother
Date of Certificate	10 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Guy, Primitive Methodist

12 February 1894

Frederick William Weston
Margaret Elizabeth Geddis

Frederick William Weston
Margaret Elizabeth Geddis
💍 1894/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

30
31

Wellington
Auckland

2 years
25 years

House of Mr W. J. Geddis, 25 Ring Terrace, Ponsonby

94/95

12 February 1894

Rev. R. J. Macanich, Presbyterian

No	66
Date of Notice	12 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Weston	Margaret Elizabeth Geddis
	💍 1894/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. J. Geddis, 25 Ring Terrace, Ponsonby
Folio	94/95
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Macanich, Presbyterian

12 February 1894

Henry Simpson Rabbidge
Agnes Dorothy Miller

Henry Simpson
Agnes Dorothy Rabbidge
💍 1894/63

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
23

Auckland
Auckland

32 years
25 years

House of Miss E. Creber, 25 Paitumata Street

94/60

12 February 1894

Rev. J. Olphert, Primitive Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	12 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Simpson Rabbidge	Agnes Dorothy Miller
BDM Match (64%)	Henry Simpson	Agnes Dorothy Rabbidge
	💍 1894/63
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	32 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Miss E. Creber, 25 Paitumata Street
Folio	94/60
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Olphert, Primitive Methodist

12 February 1894

Ernest Sidbury Ashton
Mabel Evelyn Culpan

Ernest Didsbury Ashton
Mabel Evelyn Culpan
💍 1894/1096

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
22 years

All Saints Church, Ponsonby

94/1031

12 February 1894

Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	12 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sidbury Ashton	Mabel Evelyn Culpan
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Didsbury Ashton	Mabel Evelyn Culpan
	💍 1894/1096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Ponsonby
Folio	94/1031
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Calder, Church of England

14 February 1894

Edward Henry Siddle
Elizabeth Murphy

Edward Henry Sindlen
Elizabeth Murphy
💍 1894/97

Bachelor
Widow

Printer

24
25

Ponsonby
Newton

11 years
15 years

Registrar's Office

94/120

14 February 1894

E.H. Lyons, Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	14 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Siddle	Elizabeth Murphy
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Henry Sindlen	Elizabeth Murphy
	💍 1894/97
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Printer
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Ponsonby	Newton
Length of Residence	11 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	94/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1894
Officiating Minister	E.H. Lyons, Registrar

15 February 1894

Charles Stuart Kinsey
Elizabeth Ann Leggett

Charles Stuart Holmes McKinney
Elizabeth Ann Leggett
💍 1894/1063

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

37
25

Auckland
Wellington

37 years
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Wellington

94/1048

15 February 1894

Rev. C. S. Ogg, Presbyterian

No	70
Date of Notice	15 February 1894
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stuart Kinsey	Elizabeth Ann Leggett
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Stuart Holmes McKinney	Elizabeth Ann Leggett
	💍 1894/1063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington
Length of Residence	37 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	94/1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1894
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).