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 885

District of Riverton Quarter ending 30 June 1895 Registrar J. Miller

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

424

3 April 1895

Richard Frederick Dehle
Annie Alice Durbridge

Richard Frederick Dehle
Annie Alice Durbridge
💍 1895/734

bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21 years
25 years

Riverton
Riverton

17 days

Church of England Riverton

95/1994

3 April 1895

Rev. G.W. Christian (Church of England)

No	424
Date of Notice	3 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Frederick Dehle	Annie Alice Durbridge
	💍 1895/734
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	17 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Riverton
Folio	95/1994
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. G.W. Christian (Church of England)

425

13 April 1895

Andrew Cunningham Cochrane
Emma Eliza Simpson

Andrew Cunningham Cochrane
Emma Eliza Simpson
💍 1895/731

bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44 years
23 years

Amauandale
Amauandale

6 years
3 years

95/1991

13 April 1895

Rev. J.W. Newbold (Wesleyan)

No	425
Date of Notice	13 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Cunningham Cochrane	Emma Eliza Simpson
	💍 1895/731
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Amauandale	Amauandale
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place
Folio	95/1991
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.W. Newbold (Wesleyan)

426

23 April 1895

Murdoch McKay
Bridget Josephine McTuerney

Murdoch McKay
Bridget Josephine McInerney
💍 1895/2489

bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
21 years

Gummies Bush
Riverton

20 years
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Riverton

95/3979

23 April 1895

Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholics)

No	426
Date of Notice	23 April 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch McKay	Bridget Josephine McTuerney
BDM Match (96%)	Murdoch McKay	Bridget Josephine McInerney
	💍 1895/2489
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Gummies Bush	Riverton
Length of Residence	20 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Riverton
Folio	95/3979
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholics)

427

22 May 1895

Peter Galies
Emily Eggleston

Peter Gaines
Emily Eggelton
💍 1895/735

bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24 years
19 years

Thornbury
Thornbury

4 days
19 years

Church of England Thornbury

95/1995

Jeremiah Eggleston (Father)

22 May 1895

Rev. G.W. Christian (Church of England)

No	427
Date of Notice	22 May 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Galies	Emily Eggleston
BDM Match (85%)	Peter Gaines	Emily Eggelton
	💍 1895/735
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Thornbury	Thornbury
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Thornbury
Folio	95/1995
Consent	Jeremiah Eggleston (Father)
Date of Certificate	22 May 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. G.W. Christian (Church of England)

428

31 May 1895

John William Mawer
Emily Lucre

John William Mawer
Emily Lucre
💍 1895/739

bachelor
widow

Laborer

34 years
40 years

Drummond
Drummond

3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Riverton

95/1989

31 May 1895

J.W. Eyes (Registrar)

No	428
Date of Notice	31 May 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Mawer	Emily Lucre
	💍 1895/739
Condition	bachelor	widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	34 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Drummond	Drummond
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Riverton
Folio	95/1989
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1895
Officiating Minister	J.W. Eyes (Registrar)

429

5 June 1895

John McGaughey
Helen Hood

bachelor
Spinster

Plate layer

22 years
21 years

Wakapatu
Riverton

1 year
21 years

House of Benjamin Boirrie Riverton

95/1993

5 June 1895

Rev. J.A. Lochore (Wesleyan)

No	429
Date of Notice	5 June 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGaughey	Helen Hood
Condition	bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plate layer
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wakapatu	Riverton
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	House of Benjamin Boirrie Riverton
Folio	95/1993
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1895
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.A. Lochore (Wesleyan)

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).