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 141

District of New Plymouth Quarter ending 4 February 1886 to 2 March 1886

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
8	6 February 1886	Frederick George Parish Robina Ellen Butler	Frederick George Parish Robina Ellen Butler 💍 1896/4117	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	23 21	Pungarehu New Plymouth	15 months 1 week	Registrar's Office	96/255		6 February 1886	Deputy Registrar
9	10 February 1886	Henry John Horn Maggie Deiff Munro	Henry John Henn Maggie Duff Munro 💍 1896/4121	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	28 28	Eltham Bell Block	19 years 9 months	Wesleyan Church	96/260		10 February 1886	Rev. J. H. Gray
10	10 February 1886	Edward Hodges Harriet Wall	Edward Hodges Harriet Wall 💍 1896/4123	Widower Widow	Railway Labourer	51 49	New Plymouth New Plymouth	21 years 7 months	English Church	96/261		10 February 1886	Archdeacon Govett
11	11 February 1886	Walter Bayly Mary Standish	Walter Bayly Mary Standish 💍 1896/4124	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Awakino New Plymouth	7 years 20 years	English Church	96/262		17 February 1886	Archdeacon Govett
12	18 February 1886	Thomas Francis Fiddy Lilian Susanna Putt	Thomas Francis Giddy Lillian Susanna Putt 💍 1896/4125	Bachelor Spinster	Factory Manager	20 19	Waiongona Omata	3 years 19 years	Residence of Mrs. Putt, Omata	96/263	Susanna Putt, mother	18 February 1886	Rev. W. Potter, Primitive Methodist
13	18 February 1886	Thomas William Kendal Carrie Christensen	Thomas William Kendal Carrie Christensen 💍 1896/4118	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 17	Omata New Plymouth	18 years 17 years	Registrar's Office	96/256	Niels Christensen, father	18 February 1886	Deputy Registrar
14	24 February 1886	Walter Jenkinson Edith Maude Woolley	Walter Jenkinson Edith Maude Wooller 💍 1896/4649	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 15	New Plymouth New Plymouth	4 years 9 months	Registrar's Office	96/257	Emma Woolley, mother	24 February 1886	Deputy Registrar

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).