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 203

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
249	10 August 1895	Charles Serimshone Christina Watson Group	Charles Sein Moore Christina Watson Troup 💍 1895/1588	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	32 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. George Group, Molesworth Street	95/2935		12 August 1895	Rev. J. Paterson
250	12 August 1895	Herbert James Wilson Mary Edith Lucy Parker	Herbert James McLeod Mary Edith May Parker 💍 1895/1166	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Lear, Haining Street	95/2488		13 August 1895	Rev. C. Dallaston
251	13 August 1895	Richard Randell Louisa Jane Harries	Richard Randell Louisa Jane Harries 💍 1895/1642	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	28 26	Wellington Wellington	5 days years	St. Paul's Cathedral	95/2993		14 August 1895	Rev. H. E. Suckey
252	14 August 1895	Thomas Vernon Venable Maryle Giffard Cleland	Thomas Vernon Venables Mary McGiffert Cleland 💍 1895/1169	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	30 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	Congregational Church, Willis Street, Lambton Quay	95/2491		16 August 1895	Rev. J. R. Glasson
253	16 August 1895	Thomas Carroll Selina Farley Mellow	Thomas Carroll Selina Farley 💍 1895/1500	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	35 37	Wellington Wellington	4 months 6 months	St. Mary of the Angels	95/2848		17 August 1895	Very Rev. F. Devoy
254	17 August 1895	Edward William Rollins Evelyn Fannie Dale	Edward William Rollins Evelyn Fannie Dale 💍 1895/1109	Bachelor Spinster	Professional Athlete	44 21	Wellington Wellington	6 months 2 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2452		19 August 1895	W. Wyatt
255	17 August 1895	Thomas William Edie Blanche Ann Greenfield	Thomas William Edie Blanche Ann Greenfield 💍 1895/1110	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	28 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2453	William Greenfield, father	19 August 1895	W. Wyatt
256	19 August 1895	John Robertson Phoebe Josephine Mills	John Robertson Phoebe Josphine Mills 💍 1895/1243	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	41 26	Wellington Wellington	15 years 1 year	House of Mr. Petone	95/2506		20 August 1895	Rev. A. Thomson
257	19 August 1895	John Conrad Dender Kate Biddle	John Conrad Dender Kate Biddle 💍 1895/1173	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mary's Cathedral	95/2476	Edgar Biddle, father	20 August 1895	Rev. J. O'Meara
258	20 August 1895	Stephen Harris Charlotte Nicol	Stephen Harris Charlotte Nicol 💍 1895/1589	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 22	Wellington Wellington	6 months 5 weeks	House of Mr. Thompson, Dixon Street	95/2936		20 August 1895	Rev. J. Paterson
259	20 August 1895	Robert William Preston Jane Katherine Nerbal	Herbert William Preston Jane Katherine Herbert 💍 1895/1099	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Mark's Church	95/2466		20 August 1895	Rev. R. Coffey
260	22 August 1895	George Lee Helen Chandish	George Lee Ellen Helena Charlotte Manson 💍 1895/1174	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 19	Ohariu Horokini Road	years years	House of Mr. George Lee, Akatarawa	95/2496	Mr. Chandish, father	22 August 1895	P. J. M. Cameron
261	24 August 1895	John Barber Helena Doyle	John Barber Helena Doyle 💍 1895/1111	Widower Spinster	Fisherman	42 28	Parramatta Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	95/2454		24 August 1895	W. Wyatt
262	27 August 1895	Charles Francis Brown Hannah Rae	Charles Frederick Bowen Hannah Rae 💍 1895/1176	Bachelor Spinster	Brushmaker	21 23	Wellington Wellington	years 3 months	Wesleyan Church, Coleworth Street	95/2498		27 August 1895	Rev. R. J. Murray
263	27 August 1895	Theodore August Rabe Jemima Sybella Johnson		Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	26 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Johnson, Buller Street	95/2920		27 August 1895	Rev. C. S. Ogg

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).