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 368

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1895 Registrar H. J. Hall

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

21 January 1895

Herbert Palmer Bryant
Alice Essex

Herbert Palmer Bryant
Alice Essex
💍 1895/3541

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

28 years
20 years

Dunedin
South Dunedin

5 years
14 years

In the house of Charles Essex

95/799

Charles Essex, father of minor

24 January 1895

Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister

No	21
Date of Notice	21 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Palmer Bryant	Alice Essex
	💍 1895/3541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Charles Essex
Folio	95/799
Consent	Charles Essex, father of minor
Date of Certificate	24 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister

22 January 1895

Dugald Paterson
Jean Mitchell

Dugald Patersen Junior
Jean Mitchell
💍 1895/3987

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

23 years
23 years

Mornington
North East Valley

5 years
10 years

In the house of David Mitchell

95/841

25 January 1895

Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

No	22
Date of Notice	22 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dugald Paterson	Jean Mitchell
BDM Match (82%)	Dugald Patersen Junior	Jean Mitchell
	💍 1895/3987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	North East Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of David Mitchell
Folio	95/841
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Revd J. Gibb, Presbyterian Minister

23 January 1895

Alexander Jones
Charlotte Kent

Alexander Jones
Charlotte Kent
💍 1895/3121

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

37 years
40 years

Roslyn
Dunedin

1 week
7 years

In the Office of Registrar of Marriages

95/786

28 January 1895

H. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Jones	Charlotte Kent
	💍 1895/3121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	37 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Roslyn	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 week	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of Registrar of Marriages
Folio	95/786
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	H. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

24 January 1895

Stephen James Gilbert
Mary Douglas

Stephen James Gilbert
Mary Douglas
💍 1895/3908

Widower
Widow

Stoker

37 years
36 years

Caversham
South Dunedin

11 years
4 months

In the Office of Registrar of Marriages

95/787

28 January 1895

H. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

No	24
Date of Notice	24 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen James Gilbert	Mary Douglas
	💍 1895/3908
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Stoker
Age	37 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	4 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of Registrar of Marriages
Folio	95/787
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	H. J. Hall, Registrar of Marriages

25 January 1895

Samuel Lister junr
Helen Alexander

Samuel Lister
Helen Alexander
💍 1895/3542

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24 years
24 years

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

9 years
15 years

In the house of Hector Alexander

95/992

28 January 1895

Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister

No	25
Date of Notice	25 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Lister junr	Helen Alexander
BDM Match (86%)	Samuel Lister	Helen Alexander
	💍 1895/3542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 years	15 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Hector Alexander
Folio	95/992
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Revd Isaac Jolly, Presbyterian Minister

26 January 1895

David King Whyte
Alexandrina McAdam Swanson

David King Whyte
Alexandrina McAdam Swanson
💍 1895/3135

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
27 years

Mornington
Mornington

3 days
17 years

In the Presbyterian Church

95/809

29 January 1895

Revd R. J. Porter, Presbyterian Minister

No	26
Date of Notice	26 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David King Whyte	Alexandrina McAdam Swanson
	💍 1895/3135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	3 days	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church
Folio	95/809
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1895
Officiating Minister	Revd R. J. Porter, Presbyterian Minister

27 January 1895

Frederick Olsen
Catherine Cameron

Frederick Olsen
Catherine Cameron
💍 1895/3132

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

47 years
52 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

95/788

31 January 1895

H. J. Hall, Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	27 January 1895
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Olsen	Catherine Cameron
	💍 1895/3132
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	47 years	52 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	95/788
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1895
Officiating Minister	H. J. Hall, Registrar

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).