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 208

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
16	12 January 1895	John Canute Maud Conway	John Canute Maud Conway 💍 1895/2880	Bachelor Spinster	Tram Driver	27 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/413		12 January 1895	W. D. Wyatt
17	14 January 1895	John Best Young Maud Isabel Temple	John Best Young Maud Isabel Dempsey 💍 1895/2959	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 27	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	St. Peters Church	95/448		14 January 1895	Rev. N. C. Waters
18	14 January 1895	John Cassell Mary Cocking	John Cassell Mary Cocking 💍 1895/2927	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	42 38	Golears Valley Golears Valley	10 years 5 years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	95/489		14 January 1895	Rev. Joshua Jones
19	14 January 1895	Richard Daly Emily Cooper	Richard Daly Emily Cooper 💍 1895/2879	Bachelor Widow	Shepherd	33 32	Wellington Wellington	14 days 6 weeks	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/412		14 January 1895	W. D. Wyatt
20	14 January 1895	Ernest Rout Balchin Annie Langston Harrison	Ernest Rout Balchin Annie Laughton Harrison 💍 1895/2915	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 30	Wellington Wellington	6 years 6 weeks	House of Mr. Way	95/499		16 January 1895	Rev. C. Dallaston
21	16 January 1895	Ernest Theodore Savage Mary Janson	Ernest Theodore Savage May Janson 💍 1895/2857	Bachelor Spinster	House Decorator	28 24	Wellington Wellington	5 days 3 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/414		17 January 1895	W. D. Wyatt
22	17 January 1895	Charles William Brunsell Edwards Emily Jane Biddle	Charles William Brunell Edmonds Emily Jane Biddle 💍 1895/2917	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	House of Mr. Jenkins, Tory Street	95/500		17 January 1895	Rev. C. Dallaston
23	19 January 1895	John Severn Jessie Fried	John Severn Jessie Priest 💍 1895/2964	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	Wesleyan Church, Kenton Street	95/452	John Fried, Father	21 January 1895	Rev. Josiah Ward
24	19 January 1895	Cornelius O'Driscoll Honora Rohan	Cornelius O'Driscoll Honora Bohan 💍 1895/3069	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	St. Mary of the Angels	95/463		21 January 1895	Very Rev. F. D. Evoy
25	21 January 1895	Peter Andersen Bertha Miller	Peter Antersen Bertha Miller 💍 1895/2858	Widower Spinster	Farmer	60 28	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/415		21 January 1895	W. D. Wyatt
26	23 January 1895	Jeremiah Joseph Lynch Matilda Hurley	Jeremiah Joseph Lynch Matilda Mexted 💍 1895/3068	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	95/462		23 January 1895	Very Rev. F. D. Evoy
27	23 January 1895	Henry Samuel Hadfield Elizabeth Phoebe Judey	Henry Samuel Hadfield Elizabeth Rhodes Tuckey 💍 1895/2953	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 23	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	95/442		23 January 1895	Right Rev. C. O. Mules, Bishop of Nelson
28	23 January 1895	Frederick James Brattle Rosina Emily Clark	Frederick James Bratto Rosina Emily Clark 💍 1895/3832	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	21 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	House of Mr. Clark, Brooklyn	95/480	Harriet Clark, Mother	23 January 1895	Rev. James Guy
29	23 January 1895	Alfred Honsiaux Annie Cotter	Alfred Honsiaux Anne Cotter 💍 1895/3054	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Worker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 years	St. Mary's Cathedral	95/471		23 January 1895	Rev. J. Lawson
30	24 January 1895	Benjamin Thomas Williams Agnes Jane Neil	Benjamin Thomas Williams Agnes Jane Neil 💍 1895/3831	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 18	Petone Wellington	1 month 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Petone	95/468	Phoebe Neil, Mother	24 January 1895	Rev. A. Thomson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).