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 554

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 December 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
196	2 October 1895	Henry Stuart Priscilla Elizabeth Worley	Henry Stuart Priscilla Elizabeth Wortley 💍 1895/2098	Bachelor Spinster	Sealer	37 25	Hawera Hawera	3 days 9 years	Church of England, Hawera	95/3244		2 October 1895	W. H. Kay
197	10 October 1895	James Dabwell Barbara Spence	James Dabinett Barbara Spence 💍 1895/2095	Widower Spinster	Telegraph Constructor	49 35	Hawera Hawera	5 years 15 years	at the residence of the Bride's father, David Spence, Hawera	95/3242		10 October 1895	E. H. Laws
198	14 October 1895	William Stephen Nicholson Mary Hollener	William Stephen Nicholson Mary Kelleher 💍 1895/2091	Widower Spinster	Joiner Domestic Servant	34 23	Hawera Hawera	3 1/2 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Hawera	95/3238		14 October 1895	J. F. Martin
199	15 October 1895	Robert Aitchison Sophia Hurley	Robert Aitchison Sophia Hurley 💍 1895/2092	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Yard Employee Domestic Servant	27 20	Hawera Hawera	2 weeks 6 years	Registrar's Office, Hawera	95/3239	Daniel Hurley, father	15 October 1895	J. F. Martin
200	21 October 1895	Alfred Joseph Bevan Mary Leslie	Albert Joseph Bevan Mary Leslie 💍 1895/2093	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer General Servant	30 26	Hawera Hawera	5 days 5 days	Registrar's Office, Hawera	95/3240		21 October 1895	J. F. Martin
201	4 November 1895	John McHardy Mary Frances O'Reilly	John McHardy Mary Frances O'Reilly 💍 1895/2532	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	31 25	Hawera Hawera	4 days 13 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Hawera	95/4052		4 November 1895	A. D. Mulvihill
202	18 November 1895	George Leslie Sowerby Millicent Ellen Eagles	George Leslie Sowerby Millicent Ellen Eagles 💍 1895/2097	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 23	Keteonehea Normanby	7 years 20 years	at the residence of the Bride's mother, Ellen Eagles, Normanby	95/3243		18 November 1895	C. H. Laws
203	27 November 1895	John McRae Ada Phyllis Marian Austin	John McRae Ida P M Austin 💍 1895/2458	Bachelor Spinster	Clothier	28 22	Hawera Hawera	10 weeks 6 days	Presbyterian Manse, Hawera	95/3874		27 November 1895	Thomas Mc Donald
204	11 December 1895	John Bishop Maud Mary Messer	John Bishop Maud Mary Messer 💍 1895/2094	Bachelor Spinster	Bushfaller	30 20	Tiromoana Road, Hawera Lukaums, Hawera	7 months 20 years	Registrar's Office, Hawera	95/3241	Arthur Messer, father	11 December 1895	J. F. Martin
205	17 December 1895	John Dunes Janet McKinley	John Innes Janet McKinlay 💍 1895/2459	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 34	Normanby Auckland	5 years 3 months	at the residence of the Bride's mother, Normanby	95/3875		17 December 1895	Thomas Mc Donald

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).