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 334

District of Kaiapoi 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
898	10 January 1896	Charles Edward Alexander Frances Harriet Comyns	Charles Edward Alexander Frances Harriett Comyns 💍 1896/4620	Bachelor Spinster	Aerated Water Manufacturer	26 21	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	22 years 12 months	W. Alexander's Riding House, Kaiapoi	96/790	10 January 1896	W. J. Ford, Presbyterian Minister
899	15 January 1896	Isaac Middleton Booker Sarah Elizabeth Brocklesby	Isaac Middleton Booker Sarah Elizabeth Brocklesby 💍 1896/4493	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	33 21	Ohoka Ohoka	14 months 21 years	Registrar's Office, Kaiapoi	96/791	15 January 1896	Registrar, Kaiapoi
900	27 February 1896	Walter Potts Isabel Catherine Dampier-Crossley	Walter Potts Isabella Catherine Dampier Crossley 💍 1896/4496	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	34 21	Kaiapoi Brockenhurst, Woodend	2 weeks 12 years	Church of England, Woodend	96/794	27 February 1896	Charles T. Gosset, Church of England
901	27 February 1896	John Murchie Annie Maria Harper	John Murchie Annie Maria Harper 💍 1896/4623	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	27 28	Kaiapoi Kaiapoi	27 years 28	John Harper's House, 16 Road, Kaiapoi	96/795	27 February 1896	W. J. Ford, Presbyterian Minister
902	9 March 1896	Thomas Saunders Mary Ann Moore	Thomas Saunders Mary Ann Moore 💍 1896/4494	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	22 28	East Lyttelton East Lyttelton	6 years 28	Registrar's Office, Kaiapoi	96/792	9 March 1896	Registrar, Kaiapoi
903	30 March 1896	John Edward Keeper Mela Witte	John Edward Keeper Meta Witte 💍 1896/4495	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	28 21	Woodend Woodend	15 years 21	Registrar's Office, Kaiapoi	96/793	30 March 1896	Registrar, Kaiapoi
904	30 March 1896	Frank William Boreham Estella Maud Mary Cotter	Frank William Boreham Estella Maud Mary Cottee 💍 1896/4497	Bachelor Spinster	Minister	25 18	Mosgiel Kaiapoi	14 months 3 days	A. Brakeley's House	96/796		SEE June qtr not yet issued.

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).