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 653

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 30 June 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
9	4 April 1895	Alfred Neil Galpin Catherine Morris	Alfred Niel Galpin Catherine Morris 💍 1895/3655	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 32	Upper Turakina Marton	3 months 32 years	Wesleyan Church Marton	95/1353	Mrs. Margaret Clark	4 April 1895	Revd. Jas. Thomas
10	20 April 1895	Robert Cameron Eliza Clark	Robert Cameron Eliza Clark 💍 1895/3650	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 24	Turakina Turakina	2 days 27 years	Residence Turakina	95/1348	William Still	20 April 1895	Revd. John Ross
11	27 April 1895	Charles Algernon Leicester Catherine Still	Charles Algernon Leicester Catherine Still 💍 1895/3658	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Marton Upper Turakina	1 day 19 years	Residence Upper Turakina	95/1355	Father	30 April 1895	Revd. D. Gordon
12	4 May 1895	James Glasgow Ellen Rider	James Glasgow Ellen Rider 💍 1895/3651	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 19	Turakina Turakina	23 years 3 years	Residence Turakina	95/1349	Arthur Edward Rider, Father	4 May 1895	Revd. John Ross
13	20 May 1895	Geo. Henry Stewart Cecilia Mary Beer	George Henry Stewart Cecilia Mary Bear 💍 1895/3652	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	28 22	Marton Marton	28 years 10 days	St. Stephen's Church Marton	95/1350		20 May 1895	Ven. Arch. A. Youngood
14	31 May 1895	John Kenny Agnes Vickery		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 21	Marton Marton	2 days 1 day	Office of Registrar of Marriages Marton	Not issued See attached		31 May 1895	Thos. Miles
15	8 June 1895	William Turner Laura Mary Miles	William Turner Laura Mary Miles 💍 1895/3654	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	24 19	Willow Brook Marton Marton	18 months 11 years	Salvation Army Barracks Marton	95/1352	Father	8 June 1895	Staff Capt. Reuben Edward
16	10 June 1895	Percy Beard Ann Jane Smith	Percy Beard Ann Jane Smith 💍 1895/3653	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 23	Marton Marton	3 days 1 year	Salvation Army Barracks Marton	95/1351		10 June 1895	Staff Capt. Reuben Edward

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).