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 373

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1895

No	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
54	25 February 1895	Patrick Peter Toomey Catherine Ann O'Donnell	Patrick Peter Toomey Catherine Ann OConnell 💍 1895/796	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	32 22	Waikouaiti Dunedin	4 months 7 days	In St Joseph's Cathedral, Dunedin	95/2066		25 February 1895	Revd John O'Donnell, Roman Catholic Priest
55	26 February 1895	Darcy Egbert Dredge Elizabeth Amelia Warburton	Darcy Egbert Dredge Elizabeth Amelia Warburton 💍 1895/3278	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	25 23	Ravensbourne Ravensbourne	20 years 18 years	In the Methodist Church	95/820		26 February 1895	Revd M. Laycock, Methodist Minister
56	28 February 1895	Richard William Wood Macpherson Georgina Jemima Wood Macpherson	Richard William Fereday Georgina Jemima Wood Macpherson 💍 1895/3274	Widower Widow	Solicitor	60 49	Christchurch Dunedin	30 years 10 days	In St Mary's Church, Mornington	95/816		28 February 1895	Revd C. S. Bowden, Church of England Minister
57	1 March 1895	Edward Crichton Reid Mary Adam Cairney	Edward Crichlon Reid Mary Adams Cairney 💍 1895/3265	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Fitter	24 22	Mornington Ravensbourne	2 years 9 years	In the house of Robert Cairney, Ravensbourne	95/813		1 March 1895	Revd M. C. Ash, Presbyterian Minister
58	2 March 1895	Lucius Henry Spooner Winifred Elizabeth Farrell	Lucuis Henry Spooner Winifred Elizabeth Farrell 💍 1895/3235	Bachelor Spinster	Artilleryman	33 23	St. Kilda St. Kilda	4 years 3 years	In St Peter's Church, Caversham	95/853		2 March 1895	Revd B. M. King, Church of England Minister
59	4 March 1895	John Archibald Paul Fredrie Marion Arthur	John Archibald Paul Fredric Marion Arthur 💍 1895/3251	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	28 26	Dunedin Dunedin	28 years 5 years	In the First Church	95/848		4 March 1895	Revd D. Borrie, Presbyterian Minister
60	4 March 1895	James Lindsay Boag Maggie Box Lindsay Proctor	James Lindsay Maggie Cox Lindsay Prictor 💍 1895/3266	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 19	North East Valley North East Valley	4 years 19 years	In the house of William John Proctor, North East Valley	95/832	William John Proctor, father of minor	4 March 1895	Revd D. Borrie, Presbyterian Minister

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).