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 353

District of Campbelltown Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar H. W. Hutcheson

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

7 January 1895

Angus McLean Bowers
Lizzie Hutcheson

Angus McLean Bowers
Lizzie Nutsford
💍 1895/3191

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker
Dressmaker

25
24

Stewart Island Bluff
Wyndham Bluff

3 days
10 years

House of Mr. Charleston Bluff

95/774

7 January 1895

Rev. W. C. Woodward, Prime Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	7 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McLean Bowers	Lizzie Hutcheson
BDM Match (78%)	Angus McLean Bowers	Lizzie Nutsford
	💍 1895/3191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker	Dressmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Stewart Island Bluff	Wyndham Bluff
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Charleston Bluff
Folio	95/774
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Woodward, Prime Methodist

15 January 1895

Joseph Tain
Helen Eva Mary Macdonald

Joseph Quin
Helen Eve Mary Macdonald
💍 1895/3193

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

27
31

Limestone Plains
Bluff

27 years
31 years

House of Mr. John Macdonald, Riverton

95/776

15 January 1895

Rev. John A. Gardiner, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	15 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Tain	Helen Eva Mary Macdonald
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Quin	Helen Eve Mary Macdonald
	💍 1895/3193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Limestone Plains	Bluff
Length of Residence	27 years	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John Macdonald, Riverton
Folio	95/776
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Gardiner, Presbyterian

21 January 1895

James Thomas Lockett
Margaret Scollay

James Thomas Lockett
Margaret Scollay
💍 1895/3770

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

31
30

Bluff
Stewart Island

7 years
29 years

The Church, Stewart Island

95/933

21 January 1895

Rev. Thos. M. Newbold, Wesleyan

No	29
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thomas Lockett	Margaret Scollay
	💍 1895/3770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Stewart Island
Length of Residence	7 years	29 years
Marriage Place	The Church, Stewart Island
Folio	95/933
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. M. Newbold, Wesleyan

20 February 1895

Gilbert Tom Smith
Eleanor Reid

Gilbert Tom Smith
Eleanor Reid
💍 1895/3192

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
General Servant

30
20

Bluff
Bluff

2 years
7 days

House of Mr. Edward Parsons, Bluff

95/775

Letitia Ashton, Mother of Bride

21 February 1895

Rev. W. C. Woodward, Prime Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	20 February 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Tom Smith	Eleanor Reid
	💍 1895/3192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	General Servant
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	2 years	7 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Edward Parsons, Bluff
Folio	95/775
Consent	Letitia Ashton, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	21 February 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Woodward, Prime Methodist

20 March 1895

John Stalker
Margaret Kirkpatrick

John Stalker
Margaret Kirkpatrick
💍 1895/3188

John Stalker
Margaret Kirkpatrick
💍 1895/2289

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
24

Bluff
Bluff

16 months
4 days

Registrar's Office, Bluff

95/771

20 March 1895

William Parlane, Deputy Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	20 March 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stalker	Margaret Kirkpatrick
	💍 1895/3188
	💍 1895/2289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Bluff
Length of Residence	16 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Bluff
Folio	95/771
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1895
Officiating Minister	William Parlane, Deputy Registrar

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).