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 497

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1895 Registrar William Alfred

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

22 May 1895

James Dalrymple
Ada Porter

James Dalrymple
Ada Porter
💍 1895/3341

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
None

26 years
22 years

Gisborne
Kaiti

3 years
4 years

at the residence of Thomas William Porter, Kaiti

95/1021

22 May 1895

Rev. Wm. Hepburn, Presbyterian minister

No	36
Date of Notice	22 May 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dalrymple	Ada Porter
	💍 1895/3341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	None
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Kaiti
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Thomas William Porter, Kaiti
Folio	95/1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Hepburn, Presbyterian minister

3 June 1895

William Charles
Jane Agnes Spenser

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer
None

26 years
22 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 days
8 years

at the Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

95/1013

3 June 1895

W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

No	37
Date of Notice	3 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles	Jane Agnes Spenser
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	None
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	at the Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne
Folio	95/1013
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1895
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

6 June 1895

Frank Arthur Hooper
Ellen Hepburn Spenser

Frank Arthur Hooper
Ellen Hepburn
💍 1895/3981

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
None

26 years
21 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 days
8 years

at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

95/1014

6 June 1895

W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

No	38
Date of Notice	6 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Arthur Hooper	Ellen Hepburn Spenser
BDM Match (81%)	Frank Arthur Hooper	Ellen Hepburn
	💍 1895/3981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	None
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 days	8 years
Marriage Place	at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne
Folio	95/1014
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1895
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

10 June 1895

William Stuart Murray
Mary Gray Spenser

William Stuart Murray
Mary Gray
💍 1895/3334

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

30 years
20 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 months
8 years

at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

95/1015

10 June 1895

W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

No	39
Date of Notice	10 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stuart Murray	Mary Gray Spenser
BDM Match (76%)	William Stuart Murray	Mary Gray
	💍 1895/3334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 months	8 years
Marriage Place	at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne
Folio	95/1015
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1895
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

11 June 1895

Ezra Reuben Condon
Mary McElroy

Ezra Reuben Condon
Mary McElroy
💍 1895/2548

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic Servant

29 years
27 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 months
7 years

at Roman Catholic Chapel, Gisborne

95/4042

11 June 1895

Rev. Patrick Costello

No	40
Date of Notice	11 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ezra Reuben Condon	Mary McElroy
	💍 1895/2548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 months	7 years
Marriage Place	at Roman Catholic Chapel, Gisborne
Folio	95/4042
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. Patrick Costello

12 June 1895

John Alfred Poutree
Clara Louisa Johnson

John Alfred Powrie
Clara Louisa Johnson
💍 1895/3335

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
None

23 years
20 years

Gisborne
Gisborne

16 months
15 years

at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

95/1016

Isaac Johnson, father of the said Clara Louisa Johnson

12 June 1895

W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

No	41
Date of Notice	12 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Poutree	Clara Louisa Johnson
BDM Match (92%)	John Alfred Powrie	Clara Louisa Johnson
	💍 1895/3335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	None
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	16 months	15 years
Marriage Place	at Office of Registrar of marriages, Gisborne
Folio	95/1016
Consent	Isaac Johnson, father of the said Clara Louisa Johnson
Date of Certificate	12 June 1895
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton, Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

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).