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 330

District of Geraldine Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar A. Andrews

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

468

15 February 1896

Timothy O'Connor
Maria Bryant

Timothy O'Connor
Maria Bryant
💍 1896/4508

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

38
20

Orari
Orari

9 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine

96/783

Mother

15 February 1896

Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

No	468
Date of Notice	15 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy O'Connor	Maria Bryant
	💍 1896/4508
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Orari	Orari
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Geraldine
Folio	96/783
Consent	Mother
Date of Certificate	15 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Bowers, Roman Catholic

469

6 March 1896

Hugh Patrick
Clara Pauson

Hugh Patrick
Clara Pauson
💍 1896/4509

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

19
19

Hilton
Hilton

19 years
4 years

The House of Mr. Thomas Pawson

96/784

Henry Scott, Guardian (for Hugh Patrick); Thomas Pawson, father (for Clara Pawson)

6 March 1896

Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

No	469
Date of Notice	6 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Patrick	Clara Pauson
	💍 1896/4509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Hilton	Hilton
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. Thomas Pawson
Folio	96/784
Consent	Henry Scott, Guardian (for Hugh Patrick); Thomas Pawson, father (for Clara Pawson)
Date of Certificate	6 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

470

23 March 1896

John Vance
Frances Rosina Dean

John Vance
Frances Rosina Dean
💍 1896/4489

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
23

Woodbury
Geraldine

6 years
3 months

St. Mary's Church, Geraldine

96/785

23 March 1896

Rev. James Preston, Church of England

No	470
Date of Notice	23 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Vance	Frances Rosina Dean
	💍 1896/4489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Geraldine
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Geraldine
Folio	96/785
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Preston, Church of England

471

27 March 1896

William Pearce
Martha Revell

William Pearce
Martha Revell
💍 1896/4490

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
General Servant

30
23

Geraldine
Geraldine

30 years
1 week

The House of Mrs. Quinn, Geraldine

96/786

27 March 1896

Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

No	471
Date of Notice	27 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pearce	Martha Revell
	💍 1896/4490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	General Servant
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	30 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The House of Mrs. Quinn, Geraldine
Folio	96/786
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter Harris, Primitive Methodist

472

28 March 1896

William Irvine Ashby
Florence Mary Bryan

William Irvine Ashby
Florence Mary Bryan
💍 1896/4491

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
18

Cooper's Creek
Rangitata

26 years
3 years

The House of Mr. Joseph Bryan, Rangitata

96/787

Joseph Bryan, father

28 March 1896

Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

No	472
Date of Notice	28 March 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Irvine Ashby	Florence Mary Bryan
	💍 1896/4491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Cooper's Creek	Rangitata
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The House of Mr. Joseph Bryan, Rangitata
Folio	96/787
Consent	Joseph Bryan, father
Date of Certificate	28 March 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bruce Todd, Presbyterian

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).