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 202

District of Wellington 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
234	29 July 1895	Jacob Leong German Jessie Wilson	Jacob Leonz German Meier Jessie Wilson 💍 1895/1238	Bachelor Spinster	Naval Messer	22 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 month	House of Mr. Angus Avenue	95/2502	29 July 1895	Rev. J. K. Elliott
235	30 July 1895	John Douglas Farmer Ada Evenden	John Douglas Parmenter Ada Erenden 💍 1895/1242	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	24 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Mrs. Evenden's Boarding House	95/2503	30 July 1895	Rev. J. K. Elliott
236	30 July 1895	George William Dean Edith Lacking	George William Dean Edith Larking 💍 1895/90	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	20 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2447	30 July 1895	Mr. E. Wyall
237	30 July 1895	Hugh McArthur Alice Cameron	Hugh McArthur Alice Cameron 💍 1895/87	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 26	Wellington Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2444	30 July 1895	Mr. E. Wyall
238	30 July 1895	John McMasters Mary Coleman	John McMartin Mary Colman 💍 1895/1580 John Chambers Mary Keenan 💍 1895/61	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 32	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	St. Andrew's Church	95/2919	30 July 1895	Rev. G. S. Ogg
239	31 July 1895	Henry Prowes Alicia Elizabeth Saunders	Henry Pearce Alicia Elizabeth Andrews 💍 1895/89	Bachelor Widow	Blacksmith	38 28	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2446	31 July 1895	Mr. E. Wyall
240	5 August 1895	David Arthur Baxter Bertha May Hamel	David Arthur Baxter Bertha Mary Hand 💍 1895/1182	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	34 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peter's Church	95/2480	5 August 1895	Rev. E. J. Windsor
241	6 August 1895	Herbert William Bowler Isabella Mary Julian	Herbert William Bowler Isabella Maud Julius 💍 1895/91	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	24 22	Johnsonville Johnsonville	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2448	6 August 1895	Mr. E. Wyall
242	6 August 1895	Benjamin Savile Elizabeth Avery	Benjamin Savile Elizabeth Avery 💍 1895/92	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	29 26	Wellington Wellington	6 years 6 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2449	6 August 1895	Mr. E. Wyall
243	7 August 1895	John Sydney Bullen Clara Maria Jones	John Sydney Boulton Clara Maria Toms 💍 1895/1091	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	23 22	Pahautanui Wellington	6 months 6 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2450	7 August 1895	Mr. D. Wyall
244	7 August 1895	Thomas Mortimer Burns Harriet Jane Jeffery	Thomas Mortimer Burns Harriett Anne Jeffery 💍 1895/1641	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Merchant	28 29	Kilbirnie Wellington	7 years 7 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	95/2992	7 August 1895	Rev. H. E. Tuckey
245	7 August 1895	Lawrence Spearman Winifred Jane Turner	Laurence Spearman Winifred Jane Turner 💍 1895/1102	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	32 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2451	7 August 1895	Mr. D. Wyall
246	7 August 1895	George Wilson Annie McInnes Price	George Wilson Jemima Cregdala Price 💍 1895/3393	Widower Spinster	Merchant	38 26	Wellington Masterton	4 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Masterton	95/2925	7 August 1895	Rev. Robert Wood
247	9 August 1895	William Henry Estate Agnes Wilson McKay	Henry William Estall Agnes Wilson McKay 💍 1895/1104	Bachelor Spinster	Dyer	28 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Home of Mr. Bonney, Percy Street	95/2470	9 August 1895	Rev. W. Bannister
248	10 August 1895	Joseph Henry Ditch Ida Mabel Smith	Joseph Henry D'Ath Ida Mabel Smith 💍 1895/1489	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	24 25	Wellington Wellington	4 days 4 days	St. Anthony of the Angels	95/2847	10 August 1895	Rev. W. Goggan

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).