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 542

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar Thomas Kirk

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

7 April 1896

Charles Patrick William O'Brien
Ellen Ryan

Charles Patrick William O'Brien
Ellen Ryan
💍 1896/524

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 days
Since Birth

In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton

96/1268

7 April 1896

Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	7 April 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Patrick William O'Brien	Ellen Ryan
	💍 1896/524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 days	Since Birth
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton
Folio	96/1268
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

7 April 1896

Matthew Ryan
Sarah Adelaide Fells

Matthew Ryan
Sarah Adelaide Felts
💍 1896/535

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

22 years
6 months

In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton

96/1269

7 April 1896

Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	7 April 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Ryan	Sarah Adelaide Fells
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew Ryan	Sarah Adelaide Felts
	💍 1896/535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton
Folio	96/1269
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. A. Amandolini, Roman Catholic

25 April 1896

Willie Francis Seymour
Hope Frewheellar

Willie Francis Seymour
Hope Trewheellar
💍 1896/541

Widower
Spinster

Miner

36
30

Hamilton
Hamilton West

4 days
19 years

In the Wesleyan Church at Hamilton West

96/1270

22 April 1896

Rev. J. J. Mather, Wesleyan

No	11
Date of Notice	25 April 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Francis Seymour	Hope Frewheellar
BDM Match (97%)	Willie Francis Seymour	Hope Trewheellar
	💍 1896/541
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton West
Length of Residence	4 days	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church at Hamilton West
Folio	96/1270
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Mather, Wesleyan

4 May 1896

Roland Greville
Minnie Newmarch

Roland Niccolls
Minnie Newmarch
💍 1896/542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Taupiri
Ngaruawahia

7 days
3 months

In the Episcopalian Church at Ngaruawahia

96/1271

4 May 1896

Rev. Augustus W. Innes Bradbury, Episcopalian

No	12
Date of Notice	4 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Greville	Minnie Newmarch
BDM Match (80%)	Roland Niccolls	Minnie Newmarch
	💍 1896/542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	7 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Episcopalian Church at Ngaruawahia
Folio	96/1271
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Augustus W. Innes Bradbury, Episcopalian

14 May 1896

Frank Joseph Skelton
Eliza McCauley

Frank Joseph Skelton
Eliza McCauley
💍 1896/543

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

24
31

Hamilton
Hamilton East

3 days
12 months

In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton East

96/1272

14 May 1896

Rev. Donald W. Mellow, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	14 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Joseph Skelton	Eliza McCauley
	💍 1896/543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Hamilton East
Folio	96/1272
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Donald W. Mellow, Roman Catholic

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).