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 263

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar E. B. Cresswell

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 January 1895

George William Thorpe
Lillian Beatrice Mann

George William Thorpe
Lillian Ellen Leathem
💍 1895/2928

Bachelor
Spinster

Draizer
Nil

27
23

Hokitika
Hokitika

7 months
7 months

Wesleyan Church, Hokitika

95/580

9 January 1895

Rev. S. H. Burrows, Wesleyan Minister, Hokitika

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Thorpe	Lillian Beatrice Mann
BDM Match (71%)	George William Thorpe	Lillian Ellen Leathem
	💍 1895/2928
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draizer	Nil
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Hokitika
Folio	95/580
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. H. Burrows, Wesleyan Minister, Hokitika

9 January 1895

James Hogg
Theresa Humphrey

James Rugg
Theresa Murphy
💍 1895/2943

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Nil

27
19

Kumara
Stratford

15 years
10 years

Residence of J. Humphrey, Stratford

95/582

9 January 1895

Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Priest, Stratford

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hogg	Theresa Humphrey
BDM Match (78%)	James Rugg	Theresa Murphy
	💍 1895/2943
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Nil
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Stratford
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Humphrey, Stratford
Folio	95/582
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Priest, Stratford

21 January 1895

George Davidson
Annie Postman

George Darbyson
Annie Bootsma
💍 1895/3815

Widower
Widow

Miner
Nil

61
64

Callaghans
Callaghans

18 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Hokitika

95/583

21 January 1895

Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Priest, Goldsborough

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Davidson	Annie Postman
BDM Match (75%)	George Darbyson	Annie Bootsma
	💍 1895/3815
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner	Nil
Age	61	64
Dwelling Place	Callaghans	Callaghans
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hokitika
Folio	95/583
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic Priest, Goldsborough

21 January 1895

Charles Darnbrogie
Fedoora de Carz

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Nil

28
24

Goldsborough
Callaghans

10 years
4 years

Catholic Church, Goldsborough

95/585

21 January 1895

Rev. Thomas Simpson, Roman Catholic Priest, Goldsborough

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Darnbrogie	Fedoora de Carz
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Nil
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Goldsborough	Callaghans
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Goldsborough
Folio	95/585
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Simpson, Roman Catholic Priest, Goldsborough

18 February 1895

Patrick Begman
Catherine Taylor

Patrick Dignan
Catherine Taylor
💍 1895/2896

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Nil

35
24

Hokitika
Hokitika

7 years
7 years

St Mary's Church, Hokitika

95/579

18 February 1895

Rev. E. A. Martin, Roman Catholic Priest, Hokitika

No	5
Date of Notice	18 February 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Begman	Catherine Taylor
BDM Match (89%)	Patrick Dignan	Catherine Taylor
	💍 1895/2896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Nil
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church, Hokitika
Folio	95/579
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Martin, Roman Catholic Priest, Hokitika

23 March 1895

Francis Hall
Rose Annie Cropp

Frank Wall
Rose Annie Cropp
💍 1895/416

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Nil

26
25

Reefton
Reefton

10 years
10 years

Residence of Rose Annie Cropp, Reefton

95/1599

23 March 1895

Rev. F. S. Bischoff, Church of England, Reefton

No	6
Date of Notice	23 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hall	Rose Annie Cropp
BDM Match (83%)	Frank Wall	Rose Annie Cropp
	💍 1895/416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Nil
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rose Annie Cropp, Reefton
Folio	95/1599
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. S. Bischoff, Church of England, Reefton

20 March 1895

William Stephenson
Jane Macdonald

William Stephenson
Jessie McDonald
💍 1895/2939

Widower
Spinster

Storeman
Nil

26
22

Christchurch Road
Christchurch Road

3 years
10 years

Residence of Jane Macdonald, Christchurch Road

95/581

20 March 1895

Rev. W. Douglas, Presbyterian Minister, Hokitika

No	7
Date of Notice	20 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephenson	Jane Macdonald
BDM Match (80%)	William Stephenson	Jessie McDonald
	💍 1895/2939
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Nil
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch Road	Christchurch Road
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Jane Macdonald, Christchurch Road
Folio	95/581
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Douglas, Presbyterian Minister, Hokitika

25 March 1895

William Jones
Eliza Mary Simpson

William Jones
Eliza Mary Simpson
💍 1895/2942

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Nil

24
20

Hokitika
Hokitika

16 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Hokitika

95/583

Thomas Simpson, Father

25 March 1895

E. B. Cresswell, Registrar, Hokitika

No	8
Date of Notice	25 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jones	Eliza Mary Simpson
	💍 1895/2942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Nil
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hokitika
Folio	95/583
Consent	Thomas Simpson, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1895
Officiating Minister	E. B. Cresswell, Registrar, Hokitika

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).