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 425

District of Palmerston 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
1	14 January 1895	Andrew McKean Jessie Elizabeth Maddamo	Andrew McKean Jessie Isabella Madams 💍 1895/3776	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 20	Palmerston Palmerston	26 years 20 years	Residence of John McKean, Palmerston	95/921	William Maddamo (Father)	14 January 1895	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian
2	25 January 1895	James Little Catherine Clark	James Little Catherine Clark 💍 1895/3783	Bachelor Spinster	Coach-driver	21 23	Palmerston Palmerston	20 years 1 year	Presbyterian Manse	95/922		25 January 1895	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian
3	11 February 1895	William McLeod Mary Emily Hardy	William McLeod Mary Emily Hardy 💍 1895/770	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 22	Palmerston Palmerston	3 days 1 year	St. Mary Church	95/2030		11 February 1895	Rev. Henry George Gould, Church of England
4	19 February 1895	George Burt Jane Frew	George Burt Jane Frew 💍 1895/3784	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 18	Shag Point Shag Point	1 year 18 years	Residence Thomas Frew, Shag Point	95/923		19 February 1895	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian
5	4 March 1895	Donald McMillan Jane Walker	Donald McMillan Jane K Walker 💍 1895/3785	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 24	Shag Point Bushey	3 years 3 years	Residence David Walker, Bushey	95/924		4 March 1895	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian
6	8 March 1895	John Boag Mary Hollous	John Boag Mary Hollows 💍 1895/3786	Bachelor Spinster	Engine-driver	22 19	Shag Point Shag Point	2 years 1 year	Residence Catherine Hollous, Shag Point	95/925	Catherine Hollous (Mother)	8 March 1895	Rev. James Clark, Presbyterian
7	12 March 1895	William Hamilton Jane McCallion	William Hamilton Jane McCallion 💍 1895/3787	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	43 25	Shag Point Shag Point	6 months 6 years	Residence John McCallion, Shag Point	95/926		12 March 1895	Rev. James Clark, 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 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).