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 462

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1896 Registrar Thomas Huidcliff

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

4 January 1896

George Norman Rogers
Margaret Jane Kelly

George Norman Rogers
Margaret Jane Kelly
💍 1896/222

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

33
21

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

6 days
10 years

House of Mrs. Jessie Kelly at Port Chalmers

96/956

4 January 1896

Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Norman Rogers	Margaret Jane Kelly
	💍 1896/222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 days	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Jessie Kelly at Port Chalmers
Folio	96/956
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

7 January 1896

Thomas Smellie Muir
Marion Maid Muir

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
26

Purakanui
Purakanui near Port Chalmers

3 days
6 years

House of Rev. H. McCurton, Purakanui

96/1038

7 January 1896

Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smellie Muir	Marion Maid Muir
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Purakanui	Purakanui near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. H. McCurton, Purakanui
Folio	96/1038
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

23 January 1896

Alexander Adam Shanks
Mary Thomson Jackson

Alexander Adam Shanks
Mary Thomson Jackson
💍 1896/587

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

27
24

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

2 years
2 years

House of John Shanks, Port Chalmers

96/1036

23 January 1896

Rev. J. H. Griffin, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	23 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Adam Shanks	Mary Thomson Jackson
	💍 1896/587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of John Shanks, Port Chalmers
Folio	96/1036
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Griffin, Wesleyan

23 January 1896

John McHardy Watt
Margaret MacIntosh Gray

John Macphail
Margaret Mackintosh Gray
💍 1896/586

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Governess

31
36

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

4 weeks
5 weeks

House of O. K. W. Walker, Port Chalmers

96/1035

23 January 1896

Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McHardy Watt	Margaret MacIntosh Gray
BDM Match (69%)	John Macphail	Margaret Mackintosh Gray
	💍 1896/586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Governess
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	House of O. K. W. Walker, Port Chalmers
Folio	96/1035
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

7 February 1896

William John Gray
Catherine Kelly

William John Gray
Catherine Kelly
💍 1896/585

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
19

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

9 years
3 months

Registrar's Office, Port Chalmers

96/1034

His mother, Catherine Kelly

7 February 1896

Thos. Huidcliff, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	7 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Gray	Catherine Kelly
	💍 1896/585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	9 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Port Chalmers
Folio	96/1034
Consent	His mother, Catherine Kelly
Date of Certificate	7 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Thos. Huidcliff, Registrar

11 February 1896

John Alfred Koch
Agnes Ross Dodds

John Alfred Koch
Agnes Ross Dods
💍 1896/588

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

30
27

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

1 year
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers

96/1037

11 February 1896

Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	11 February 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Koch	Agnes Ross Dodds
BDM Match (97%)	John Alfred Koch	Agnes Ross Dods
	💍 1896/588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	96/1037
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. McCurton, Presbyterian

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 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).