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 264

District of Christchurch 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
259	13 July 1895	David Thomas Macfarlane Florence Hale Spink	David Thomas Matson Florence Hale 💍 1895/2350	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	23 22	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 22 years	Church of England	95/3583		13 July 1895	Rev. J. Muston
260	15 July 1895	James Forsyth Macfarlane Mary Wheelhouse		Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Domestic	34 28	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 2 years	Registrar's Office	95/2588		13 July 1895	J. M. Macfarlane, Registrar of Marriages
261	15 July 1895	Charles William Macfarlane Matilda Fallon Howard	Charles William Howard Matilda Felton 💍 1895/1316	Bachelor Spinster	Upholsterer Domestic	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 26 years	House of Mrs. Peto, Victoria Street	95/2642		13 July 1895	Rev. J. S. Laing
262	15 July 1895	Joseph John Roberts Sarah Ann Baller	Joseph John Gilbert Sarah Ann Baker 💍 1895/1835 Joseph Saunders Sarah Ann Plant 💍 1895/1636	Bachelor Widow	Cab Owner House of H. Cellars	42 42	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 21 years	Bible Christian Church	95/3000		15 July 1895	Rev. J. Corband
263	15 July 1895	Adam Hamilton Spink Arthur Crabtree Bellwood		Bachelor Bachelor	Mechanic	37 27	Christchurch Christchurch	8 years 27 years	St. Michael's Church	95/2877		15 July 1895	Rev. W. Averill
264	16 July 1895	Richard Campbell Thomas Anna Matilda Thomas	Richard Campbell Anna Matilda Thomas 💍 1895/1517	Widower Widow	Housekeeper Housekeeper	50 49	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 8 years	Wesleyan Church	95/2888		16 July 1895	Rev. H. R. Dewsbury
265	16 July 1895	George Livingstone Arrows Annie Musson Spink	George Livingstone Columbus Annie Musson 💍 1895/1327	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 21 years	St. James' Church	95/2631		16 July 1895	Rev. J. A. Scott
266	16 July 1895	John Monteith Kennedy Helena Kennedy	John Monteith Helena Kennedy 💍 1895/1254	Bachelor Spinster	Boarding House Keeper	35 20	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 20 years	Registrar's Office	95/2589	Ellen Kennedy, Mother	16 July 1895	J. M. Macfarlane, 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 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).