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 410

District of Riverton 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
432	3 July 1895	John McKay Mary Hodgcroft Morley	John McKay Mary Hopcroft Moreley 💍 1895/2490 John McKay Kate Elizabeth Hellyer 💍 1895/4099	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 years 23	Jacobs River, Riverton Gummuer Bush, Riverton	16 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Riverton	95/3980		3 July 1895	M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)
433	12 July 1895	Francis Henry Green Mary Ann Sharp	Francis Henry Green Mary Ann Sharp 💍 1895/1462	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 years 19	Riverton Riverton	14 years 6 months	In the House of Mr. Joseph Moss, Riverton	95/2802	Robert Sharp, Father	12 July 1895	Rev. J. A. Lochore (Wesleyan)
434	31 July 1895	Alfred Robert Campbell Christina McCouchy	Alfred Robert Campbell Christina McConichy 💍 1895/1451	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	48 years 28	Riverton Riverton	1 year 3 months	House of Mr. Campbell, Riverton	95/2797		31 July 1895	Rev. Thos. Neave (Presbyterian)
435	23 August 1895	William Hunter Cughton Mary Jane Shaw	William Hunter Oughton Mary Jane Shaw 💍 1895/1460 William Charles Burgess Maryanne Shaw 💍 1896/1569	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 years 27	Mosgiel Fairfax	10 years 4 years	House of Mr. John Shaw, East Lowry, Fairfax	95/2800		23 August 1895	Rev. Robb Ewen (Presbyterian)
436	29 August 1895	Alex Goodwin Frew Emily Boniface	Alexander Goodwin Frew Emily Boniface 💍 1895/1464	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	35 years 22	Riverton Riverton	35 years 22 years	House of Mr. Boniface, S. Riverton	95/2804		29 August 1895	Rev. J. A. Lochore (Wesleyan)
437	5 September 1895	Henry Garden Mary Elizabeth Thomson	Henry Garden Mary Elizabeth Thomson 💍 1895/1461	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 years 19	Pahi Pahi	13 years 5 years	House of Mrs. E. M. E. Thomson, Pahi	95/2801	Mrs. E. Thomson, Mother	5 September 1895	Rev. G. H. Christian (Church of England)
438	7 September 1895	John Erskine Bridget Louisa Fitzgerald	John Erskine Bridget Louisa Fitzgerald 💍 1895/2468	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 years 25	Orepuki Pahi	6 years 10 years	House of Mr. Jas. Fitzgerald, Pahi	95/3981		7 September 1895	Rev. M. Walsh (Roman Catholic)

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 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).