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 849

District of Invercargill 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
44	18 April 1895	Charles James Ruddick Richardson Susannah Ann Margaret McIvor	Charles James Ruddiman Richardson Susannah Ann Margaret McIvor 💍 1895/665	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	40 24	Invercargill Invercargill	8 years 4 years	St John's Church, Tay Street, Invercargill	95/1913		18 April 1895	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker
45	23 April 1895	John Grant Clara Jane Daniel	John Grant Clara June Daniel 💍 1895/672	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 25	Invercargill Invercargill	3 days 10 days	At the Manse, Kelvin Street, Invercargill	95/1921		23 April 1895	Rev. Geo. Lindsay
46	23 April 1895	William Winton Robertson Elizabeth Henrietta Wood	William Winton Robertson Elizabeth Henrietta Wood 💍 1895/679	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer	22 20	Invercargill South Invercargill	22 years 20 years	House of Mrs. Eathan Wood, Eathan Wood	95/1905	Eathan Wood, Father	23 April 1895	Rev. Wm. Woollass
47	23 April 1895	John Wilson Margaret Catherine Mary Ann Gray	John Wilson Margaret Catherine Mary Ann Gray 💍 1895/678	Bachelor Spinster	Mail Driver	26 18	Wallacetown Wallacetown	18 months 18 years	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill	95/1903	Donald Gray, Father	23 April 1895	J. L. Burch, Deputy Registrar
48	24 April 1895	David Tull Mary Rutland	David Tull Mary Ann Phillipson 💍 1896/352	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	26 24	Invercargill Invercargill	20 years 24 years	House of Mrs. Benjamin Tull, Richmond Grove, Invercargill	Apparently Not Solemnized See attached.		24 April 1895	Rev. P. W. Jones
49	29 April 1895	Thomas Driver Isabella Anderson Cooper	Thomas Driver Isabella Anderson Cooper 💍 1895/666	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	27 20	Clifton Clifton	2 years 20 years	Church of England, Clifton	95/1914	Thomas Cooper, Father	29 April 1895	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker
50	29 April 1895	Dominion James Leo O'Connor Annie Mary Ireneus Plasted	Dominick James Leo OConnor Annie Mary Irenens Plasted 💍 1895/683	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	26 19	Invercargill Invercargill	4 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill	95/1909	Mary Ann Plasted, Mother; Annie Plasted, Sister; Ireneus Plasted, Brother	29 April 1895	Rev. Nicholas Berek

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).