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 239

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1896

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
1	3 January 1896	Thomas Mark Cummings Mary Annie Andrews	Thomas Martin Cummings Mary Annie Andrews 💍 1896/4827	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	41 38	Wellington Wellington	5 days 5 days	House of Rev. J. R. Glasson, Wellington Terrace	96/2249		3 January 1896	Rev. J. R. Glasson
2	4 January 1896	Adam McMorran Puti Turani	Adam McMorran Puti Tunui 💍 1896/4295	Bachelor Spinster	Factory	24 25	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Rev. C. S. Ogg, Tinakori	96/491		4 January 1896	Rev. C. S. Ogg
3	7 January 1896	William John Lowes Ethel May Nicholls	William John Lowes Ethel Mary Nicholls 💍 1896/4300	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 week	Catholic Apostolic Church, Wellington	96/495		7 January 1896	Mr. W. J. Thame
4	7 January 1896	Caster Courtney Elsie Ryce	Caster Courtney Elsie Ryel 💍 1896/4268	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/463		7 January 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
5	8 January 1896	Samuel Bishop Holford Mary Ann Cunningham	Samuel Bishop Halford Mary Ann Cunningham 💍 1896/4296	Widower Spinster	Mariner	30 20	Wellington Wellington	2 years 1 week	St. Mark's Church, Wellington	96/492		8 January 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
6	8 January 1896	Henry Alphonse Angwin Caroline Emma Cruickshank		Bachelor Spinster	Milkman	29 21	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/464		8 January 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
7	9 January 1896	Arthur Edward Furness Margaret Low	Arthur Edward Furness Margaret Low 💍 1896/4303 John Rolland Eadie Margaret Low 💍 1896/2767	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	29 31	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Rev. J. K. Elliott, Tasman Street	96/498		9 January 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
8	9 January 1896	Francis Taylor Mary Kate Elliott	Francis Taylor Murison Mary Kate Eliott 💍 1896/4301	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 25	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/496		9 January 1896	Rev. H. E. Tuckey
9	10 January 1896	George Tyffe McLean Effie Amelia Leif	George Fyffe McLean Effie Amelia Luff 💍 1896/4304	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	35 24	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Mr. McLean, Hanson Street	96/499		10 January 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
10	11 January 1896	Thomas Lavin Susan Andrews	Thomas Lavin Susan Andrews 💍 1896/4326	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	34 24	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Mr. Clarke, Cuba Street	96/503		11 January 1896	Rev. H. B. Redstone
11	11 January 1896	Frederick Gibbins Marie Annie Alice Green	Frederick Gibbins Maria Annie Alice Meier 💍 1896/4305	Bachelor Spinster	Inspector	27 20	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	96/500		11 January 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
12	14 January 1896	John Holmes Alice Maria Stott	John Holmes Alice Maria Stott 💍 1896/4270	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	23 17	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/465	Abraham Stott, father	12 January 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
13	16 January 1896	James Wilson Kate Marshall	James Wilson Kate Marshall 💍 1896/4116	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	27 29	Wellington New Plymouth	2 years 2 years	St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, Taranaki	96/254		16 January 1896	Ven. Archdeacon Govett
14	17 January 1896	John Frederick Monk Elizabeth Packer	John Frederick Monk Elizabeth Packer 💍 1896/4324	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Wellington Wellington	1 week 2 years	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street	96/502	Helen Gillespie, guardian	17 January 1896	Rev. Edward Drake
15	17 January 1896	Morris Fox Katherine Saratoga Bartell	Morris Fox Katherine Sara Vizier Martelli 💍 1896/4313	Bachelor Spinster	Actuary	37 30	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Mr. George Dykes, Upper Willis Street	96/501		17 January 1896	Rev. J. Turnbull

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 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).