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 727

District of Ashburton 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
898	2 April 1895	Benjamin James Haines Emma Eliza Ede	Benjamin James Haines Emma Eliza Ede 💍 1895/448	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker	29 25	Ashburton Allenton	15 years 14 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	95/1607	2 April 1895	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
899	9 April 1895	George Arthur Fuller Ellen Ada Good	George Arthur Fuller Ellen Ada Good 💍 1895/426	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic Servant	23 23	Ashburton Allenton	3 days 3 days	Private Dwelling of Mrs. Ellen Good, Allenton	95/1609	9 April 1895	Revd. J. G. Brooke
900	9 April 1895	Richard Lawe Annie Halligan	Richard Laws Annie Halligan 💍 1895/443	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Housekeeper	26 24	Lyndhurst Lyndhurst	5 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	95/1602	9 April 1895	J. Ward, Registrar
901	23 April 1895	Alfred Patrick Bishop Mary Butler	Alfred Patrick Bishop Mary Butler 💍 1895/771 Patrick Flood Mary Butler 💍 1895/1308	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Wheatstone Ashburton	20 years 20 years	Roman Catholic Church at Ashburton	95/2032	23 April 1895	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
902	29 April 1895	John Iannor Robbens Margaret Armstrong	John Tavenor Robbins Margaret Armstrong Leeson 💍 1895/444	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 21	Ashburton Ashburton	22 years 10 years	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	95/1603	29 April 1895	J. Ward, Registrar
903	11 May 1895	Arthur Paterson Elizabeth Ann Belcher	Arthur Paterson Elizabeth Ann Belcher 💍 1895/4016	Widower Spinster	Cloth Finisher Domestic Servant	34 27	Allenton Allenton	9 years 8 months	Private Dwelling of Roderick Bremner at Allenton	95/1608	11 May 1895	Revd. John Olphert
904	18 May 1895	Edward Chellarop Buckett Annie Kellahan	Edward Goldthorp Beckett Annie Kellahan 💍 1895/427	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 20	Mayfield Mayfield	3 years 5 years	Private Dwelling of Daniel Kellahan at Mayfield	95/1610	21 May 1895	Revd. A. Blake
905	20 May 1895	Albert Williams Mary Cook	Albert Williams Mary Cook 💍 1895/445	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 22	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 2 days	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	95/1604	30 May 1895	J. Ward, Registrar
906	14 June 1895	Thomas Morrow McClea Margaret Aitken	Thomas Morren McClea Margaret Aicken 💍 1895/446	Bachelor Widow	Contractor	33 35	Tinwald Greenstreet	6 years 14 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	95/1605	4 June 1895	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
907	6 June 1895	John Dummett Lizzie Fraser	John Dunnett Lizzie Fraser 💍 1895/1249	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Manager	35 29	Mayfield Shepherds Bush	1 year 8 years	Private Dwelling of Donald Fraser at Shepherds Bush	95/2576	6 June 1895	Revd. A. B. Todd

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).