Intentions to Marry, 1895 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840407, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025.

1895 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 019

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar H. Ryons

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

110

27 March 1895

John Hugh Macallan
Catherine Spencer Archibald

John Hugh McKenzie
Catherine Archibald
💍 1895/257

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
32

Whangarei
Auckland

5 years
2 years

House of S. J. Archibald

95/74

27 March 1895

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	27 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh Macallan	Catherine Spencer Archibald
BDM Match (66%)	John Hugh McKenzie	Catherine Archibald
	💍 1895/257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of S. J. Archibald
Folio	95/74
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

111

27 March 1895

Frederick Samuel Clarke
Margaret Mary Taylor

Frederick Samuel Clarke
Margaret Amy Innes Taylor
💍 1895/286

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

35
21

Hawkes Bay
Auckland

3 years
1 year

Bishop's Chapel

95/82

27 March 1895

Rev. E. B. Clarke, Church of England

No	111
Date of Notice	27 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel Clarke	Margaret Mary Taylor
BDM Match (82%)	Frederick Samuel Clarke	Margaret Amy Innes Taylor
	💍 1895/286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Hawkes Bay	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Bishop's Chapel
Folio	95/82
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. B. Clarke, Church of England

112

28 March 1895

William Holder
Eliza Green

William Holden
Eliza Trevena
💍 1895/383

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

33
24

Auckland
Auckland

25 years
24 years

St. Paul's Church

95/1564

28 March 1895

Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

No	112
Date of Notice	28 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Holder	Eliza Green
BDM Match (85%)	William Holden	Eliza Trevena
	💍 1895/383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	95/1564
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Nelson, Church of England

113

28 March 1895

John Findlay Smith
Catherine Smith

John Findlay
Catherine Elizabeth Smith
💍 1895/247

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
24 years

House of S. C. H. Smith

95/165

28 March 1895

Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregationalist

No	113
Date of Notice	28 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Findlay Smith	Catherine Smith
BDM Match (63%)	John Findlay	Catherine Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1895/247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of S. C. H. Smith
Folio	95/165
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregationalist

114

29 March 1895

Atkinson Gilfady
Blanche Corry

Atkinson Tiplady
Blanche Connolly
💍 1895/3407

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church

95/1178

29 March 1895

Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

No	114
Date of Notice	29 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Atkinson Gilfady	Blanche Corry
BDM Match (75%)	Atkinson Tiplady	Blanche Connolly
	💍 1895/3407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	95/1178
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ferguson, Presbyterian

115

29 March 1895

Joseph Copper
Susanna Wallace

Joseph Capper
Susanna Slade
💍 1895/210

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

23
25

Rangipo
Auckland

15 months
12 months

Registrar's Office

95/25

29 March 1895

S. H. Ryons, Registrar

No	115
Date of Notice	29 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Copper	Susanna Wallace
BDM Match (83%)	Joseph Capper	Susanna Slade
	💍 1895/210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Rangipo	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	95/25
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1895
Officiating Minister	S. H. Ryons, Registrar

116

30 March 1895

Leopold Simmons
Sarah Clarke

Leopold Simmonds
Sarah McCloskey
💍 1895/3403

Bachelor
Spinster

Tenter

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
22 years

Catholic Church

95/1148

30 March 1895

Very Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

No	116
Date of Notice	30 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leopold Simmons	Sarah Clarke
BDM Match (80%)	Leopold Simmonds	Sarah McCloskey
	💍 1895/3403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tenter
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	95/1148
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. Paul, Roman Catholic

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).