Intentions to Marry, 1896 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840409, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 053

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar Aeneas Kirk

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

6 January 1896

William Winter
Esther Franklin

William Winter
Esther Franklin
💍 1896/3873

William Gifford
Elizabeth Irene Franklin
💍 1896/3621

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

21 years
19 years

In St. Peters Episcopalian Church

96/156

6 January 1896

Rev. R. C. Biggs, Episcopalian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Winter	Esther Franklin
	💍 1896/3873
BDM Match (60%)	William Gifford	Elizabeth Irene Franklin
	💍 1896/3621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	21 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peters Episcopalian Church
Folio	96/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. C. Biggs, Episcopalian

18 January 1896

Arthur Auger
Nellie Elizabeth Davey

Arthur Auger
Nellie Elizabeth Davey
💍 1896/3870

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

23
22

Frankton
Hamilton

3 years
17 years

In the Wesleyan Church at Hamilton

96/153

18 January 1896

Rev. J. J. Mather, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Auger	Nellie Elizabeth Davey
	💍 1896/3870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Frankton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church at Hamilton
Folio	96/153
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Mather, Wesleyan

24 January 1896

Gibson Roper
Hannah Leatherland

Gibson Roper
Hannah Litherland
💍 1896/3872

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

22
21

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

11 years
7 days

In the Episcopalian Church at Ngaruawahia

96/155

24 January 1896

Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Episcopalian

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gibson Roper	Hannah Leatherland
BDM Match (94%)	Gibson Roper	Hannah Litherland
	💍 1896/3872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	11 years	7 days
Marriage Place	In the Episcopalian Church at Ngaruawahia
Folio	96/155
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Episcopalian

11 February 1896

Thomas Jones
Mary Anna Stokes

Thomas Jones
Mary Anna Stokes
💍 1896/3874

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

37
27

Hamilton
Hamilton

28 years
Since birth

In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton

96/159

11 February 1896

Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	11 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jones	Mary Anna Stokes
	💍 1896/3874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	28 years	Since birth
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton
Folio	96/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

12 February 1896

Francis George Jackson
Mary Mellars

Francis George Jackson
Mary Mellars
💍 1896/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
27

Taupiri
Taupiri

13 years
7 years

In the Episcopalian Church at Taupiri

96/234

12 February 1896

Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Episcopalian

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Jackson	Mary Mellars
	💍 1896/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Taupiri
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Episcopalian Church at Taupiri
Folio	96/234
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Augustus W. Jones Bradbury, Episcopalian

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).