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 278

District of Nelson 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	Officiating Minister
1	1 January 1896	Henry John Crump Emma Barker	John Crump Emma Barker 💍 1896/4398	Widower Widow	Telegraphist Teacher	67 57	Stoke Nelson Nelson	7 days 1 month	Residence of Henry Barker	96/602		Rev. George Bond, Wesleyan Minister
2	28 January 1896	William Ringle Lena Pilliet	William Pringle Lena Pilliet 💍 1896/3949	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager Domestic Duties	47 24	Westport Haven Road Nelson	8 years 8 months	All Saints Church	96/592		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Church of England Minister
3	12 February 1896	Charles William Keyburn Annie Hart	Charles John Weybourne Ann Hart 💍 1896/4399	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner Domestic Duties	32 25	Nelson Haven Road Nelson	18 months 25 years	St. Mary's Church	96/603		Rev. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
4	13 February 1896	George Maurice Langley Elsie Higgins	George Maurice Langley Adgie Higgins 💍 1896/4378	Bachelor Spinster	Catholic Steward Domestic Duties	27 22	Nelson Nelson	3 years 16 years	St. Mary's Church	96/604		Rev. J. Mahoney, Roman Catholic Priest
5	22 February 1896	Lewis George Frost Mary Rewin	Lewis George Frost Mary Lewin 💍 1896/4379	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	22 20	Wakapuaka Wakapuaka	22 years 20 years	Residence of William Rewin	96/605		Rev. G. I. Marshall, Presbyterian Minister
6	25 February 1896	Thomas Bright Esther Ann Tepsey	Thomas Bright Hester Ann Veysey 💍 1896/4380	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Domestic Duties	34 28	Naimea Road Nelson Naimea Road Nelson	4 days 3 months	Residence of Henry Bright	96/606		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Wesleyan Minister
7	25 February 1896	Henry Diedrichs Rosa Amelia Hart	John Henry Diedrichs Rosa Amelia Hart 💍 1896/4381	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer Domestic Duties	25 23	Richmond Nelson Richmond Nelson	3 weeks 3 weeks	Eli Shawbridge, St. Vincent Street, Nelson	96/607		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Presbyterian Minister
8	7 March 1896	George Miller Mary Ann Holbrook	George Miller Mary Ann Holbrook 💍 1896/4382	Bachelor Spinster	Stonemason Domestic Duties	24 22	Collingwood Street Nelson North Street Nelson	7 years 4 years	Residence of Nelson Miller	96/608		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Presbyterian Minister
9	14 March 1896	William Nelson Hawkes Hilda Vinn	William Watson Hawkes Hilda Win 💍 1896/1510	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Duties	22 22	Green Street Richmond Green Street Richmond	3 days 3 weeks	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hugh Calders	96/2251		Hugh Calders, Registrar
10	24 March 1896	Henry James Hobbs Annette Dale Souman	Henry James Hobbs Jannetter Kate Sowman 💍 1896/4383	Bachelor Spinster	General Merchant Domestic Duties	26 24	Tasman Street Nelson Tasman Street Nelson	15 months 24 years	The Cathedral, Christchurch	96/609		Rev. F. J. Kempthorne, Church of England Minister
11	25 March 1896	Joseph Brown Grace Louisa Fittall	Joseph Brown Florence Louisa Fittall 💍 1896/4384	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	27 20	Queen Street Richmond Queen Street Richmond	3 days 4 months	Residence of Samuel Fittall	96/610	Samuel Fittall, father	Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Wesleyan Minister
12	26 March 1896	David William Healy Ethel May Scott	David William Healy Ethel May Scott 💍 1896/4385	Bachelor Spinster	Drill Instructor Domestic Duties	31 22	Grove Street Nelson Bridge Street Nelson	3 years 3 days	Residence of David Healy	96/611		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Presbyterian Minister
13	30 March 1896	Balfour Stuart Houston Emily Alberta Harley	Balfour Stewart Clouston Emily Alberta Harley 💍 1896/4386	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller Domestic Duties	36 25	Motueka Valley Stoke Nelson	3 days 25 years	Church Hill, Presbyterian	96/612		Rev. H. W. Chatterton, Presbyterian Minister

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).