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 283

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar J. M. Markenson

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

21 January 1895

Albert Godfrey Mackay
Marion Frances Strouts

Albert Godfrey Mackay
Marion Frances Strouts
💍 1895/2996

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
25

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
2 years

St. Michaels Church

95/689

21 January 1895

Rev. A. W. Ceverice, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Godfrey Mackay	Marion Frances Strouts
	💍 1895/2996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Michaels Church
Folio	95/689
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. W. Ceverice, Church of England

21 January 1895

John Adams
Mary Margaret Spicer

John Adams
Darby Margaret Spicer
💍 1895/33

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curer

31
21

Christchurch
Willow Bank

7 years
7 years

House of Rev. J. M. Simpson, Ayden

95/658

21 January 1895

Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Adams	Mary Margaret Spicer
BDM Match (95%)	John Adams	Darby Margaret Spicer
	💍 1895/33
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curer
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Willow Bank
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. M. Simpson, Ayden
Folio	95/658
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson, Presbyterian

22 January 1895

Charles Seymour
Marion Park Cresswell

Charles Seymour
Marion Park Cresswell
💍 1895/34

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

35
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
26 years

Wesleyan Church, East Belt

95/669

22 January 1895

Rev. T. W. Isitt, Wesleyan

No	31
Date of Notice	22 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Seymour	Marion Park Cresswell
	💍 1895/34
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, East Belt
Folio	95/669
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. W. Isitt, Wesleyan

22 January 1895

Henry Alexander Glass
Marion Prescott Godfrey

Henry Alexander Glass
Marion Prescott Godfrey
💍 1895/48

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
27

Christchurch
Burwood

10 years
7 years

Episcopalian Church

95/680

22 January 1895

Rev. T. R. Inwood, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	22 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander Glass	Marion Prescott Godfrey
	💍 1895/48
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Burwood
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church
Folio	95/680
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. Inwood, Church of England

25 January 1895

John Cunnane
Mary McLeinkin

John Cunneen
Mary McQuilkin
💍 1895/3818

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Christchurch
Lincoln

4 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church

95/641

25 January 1895

Rev. J. Foley, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	25 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cunnane	Mary McLeinkin
BDM Match (77%)	John Cunneen	Mary McQuilkin
	💍 1895/3818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Lincoln
Length of Residence	4 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	95/641
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Foley, Roman Catholic

28 January 1895

Isaac Brougham
Alice Edith Thorne

Isaac Broughan
Alice Edith Thorne
💍 1895/3045

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

3 days
3 days

St. Johns Church

28 January 1895

Rev. N. C. M. Watson, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	28 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Brougham	Alice Edith Thorne
BDM Match (96%)	Isaac Broughan	Alice Edith Thorne
	💍 1895/3045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. C. M. Watson, Church of England

28 January 1895

Stephen Kimber West
Jessie Gray

Stephen Kimber
Jessie Gray
💍 1895/468

Widower
Spinster

80
44

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 years
5 months

House of Rev. F. Plenslee, Heathfield

95/1651

28 January 1895

Rev. F. Plenslee, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	28 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Kimber West	Jessie Gray
BDM Match (87%)	Stephen Kimber	Jessie Gray
	💍 1895/468
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession
Age	80	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. Plenslee, Heathfield
Folio	95/1651
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Plenslee, Presbyterian

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).