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 260

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 20 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
909	1 July 1895	Fergus Robert Darden Annie Abbott Grigg	Peregrine Robert Dearden Annie Abbott Grigg 💍 1895/1218	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	46 32	Ourima Downs Longbeach	2 years 26 years	Private Chapel, Longbeach	95/2574		1 July 1895	Revd. John Blackburne
910	7 August 1895	Charles Houston Edith Henrietta Bushell	Charles Houlton Edith Henrietta Bushell 💍 1895/1219	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 19	Longbeach Longbeach	7 years 3 years	Private Chapel, Longbeach	95/2575	Henry Martin Bushell, father	12 August 1895	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
911	7 August 1895	Robert Black Agnes Mary Blanche Williams	Robert Black Agnes Mary Blanche Williams 💍 1895/1269	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 24	Tinwald Tinwald	6 months 7 years	Presbyterian, Ashburton	95/2580		12 August 1895	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
912	7 August 1895	John Marsden Sarah Elizabeth James	John Marsden Sarah Elizabeth James 💍 1895/3874	Bachelor Spinster	Bookseller	24 17	Ashburton Hampstead	8 years 7 years	Private Dwelling of Henry James James at Hampstead	95/2570	Henry James James, father	15 August 1895	Revd. John Olphert
913	20 August 1895	Herbert Clement Odell Florence Pilbrow	Herbert Clement Orbell Florence Pilbrow 💍 1895/1267	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	30 26	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 7 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	95/2578		20 August 1895	Revd. Thos. A. Hamilton
914	23 August 1895	James Rowland Colyer Emma Catherine Prickard	James Rowland Colyer Emma Catherine Prichard 💍 1895/1216	Widower Widow	Clerk of Court	39 33	Ashburton Ashburton	11 years 3 years	Private dwelling of Mrs. E. C. Prickard at Ashburton	95/2573		23 August 1895	Revd. Robert Ager
915	24 August 1895	James Glassey Mary Ann Corbett	James Glassey Mary Ann Corbett 💍 1895/1270	Widower Spinster	Farmer	33 34	Eiffilton Fearview	9 years 7 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	95/2581		24 August 1895	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
916	30 August 1895	David Thomas Todd Alice Lilian Barrett	David Thomas Todd Alice Lilian Barrett 💍 1895/1271	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	26 21	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 17 years	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton	95/2582		30 August 1895	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
917	31 August 1895	Robert Samuel Calston Agnes Sophia Conlan	Robert Samuel Elston Agnes Sophia Conlan 💍 1895/3875	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	25 17	Ashburton Ashburton	21 years 3 years	Private Dwelling of Mrs. Conlan, Ashburton	95/2571	Rubina Conlan, mother	31 August 1895	Revd. John Olphert
918	24 September 1895	Thomas George Wright Mary Jane Fargher	Thomas George Hight Mary Jane Fargher 💍 1895/3876	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Hampstead Seafield	1 year 6 weeks	Private Dwelling of John Moore, Seafield	95/2572	Catherine Fargher, Guardian	24 September 1895	Revd. John Olphert

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).