Intentions to Marry, 1895 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840408, 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 003

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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
237	1 July 1895	Daniel Elwood Higgins Catherine Breday	Daniel Elwood Higgins Catharine Bredey 💍 1895/1702	Widower Spinster	Bootmaker	62 34	Auckland Auckland	40 years 6 months	St Benedicts Church Auckland	95/3107	1 July 1895	Very Revd D. O. Egan, Roman Catholic
238	3 July 1895	Edwin Wright Marion Ripley	Edwin Wright Marion Ripley 💍 1895/871	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 25	Auckland Auckland	25 years 25 years	Registrar's Office Auckland	95/2146	3 July 1895	E. H. Lyons, Registrar
239	4 July 1895	Archibald Henry Bell Annie McKinnay	Archibald Henry Bell Annie McKirney 💍 1895/4082	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	25 23	Auckland Auckland	4 years 10 years	St David's Ch Symonds St	95/2197	4 July 1895	Rev. R. Scott West, Presbyterian
240	5 July 1895	Robert James Thompson Robinson Mary Sutherland	Robert James Thompson Robinson Mary Sutherland 💍 1895/4119	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	28 25	Auckland Auckland	11 years 7 years	St James Ch Auckland	95/2174	5 July 1895	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
241	5 July 1895	Richard James Keew Simpson Lucy Jane McGee	Richard James Keen Simpson Lucy Jane McGee 💍 1895/4050	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 24	Wanganui Papatoitoi	24 years 24 years	House of Mr R. M. McGee Papatoitoi	95/2185	5 July 1895	Rev. D. J. Steele, Presbyterian
242	5 July 1895	Arthur William Ford Louisa Pelham	Arthur William Ford Louisa Pelham 💍 1895/1152	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 26	Devonport Devonport	12 years 5 months	St Matthews Ch Hobson St Auckland	95/2233	5 July 1895	Rev. L. Fitz Gerald, Church of England
243	6 July 1895	Andrew Pearce Johnson Elizabeth Caroline Davis	Andrew Pearce Johnson Elizabeth Caroline Davis 💍 1895/891	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	24 22	Devonport Auckland	24 years 12 years	House of Mr W. J. Davis Parnell	95/2175	6 July 1895	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
244	8 July 1895	Fred Belcher Stokes Matilda May	Fred Belcher Stokes Matilda May 💍 1895/909	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 33	Onehunga Auckland	2 years 33 years	House of Mr S. W. Sale Arch Hill Auckland	95/2195	8 July 1895	Rev. G. H. Mann, Primitive Methodist
245	8 July 1895	Ernest Hanswell Bennett Elizabeth Ann Joughin	Ernest Hanswell Bennett Elizabeth Ann Joughin 💍 1895/921	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Te Awamutu Auckland	12 months 8 years	House of Mr E. Joughin Mt Eden	95/2190	8 July 1895	Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregational Independent

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).