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 648

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
36	27 April 1896	Robt. McIntosh Margt. Stothart	Robert McIntosh McLeod Margaret Stothart 💍 1896/720	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	34 30	Napier Napier	3 years 25 years	Presbyterian Church, Napier	96/1439		27 April 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
37	4 May 1896	Alford Drayton Gertrude Simon	Alfred Drayton Gertrude Simon 💍 1896/722	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	31 22	Napier Meeanee	3 years 18 years	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	96/1441		4 May 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
38	6 May 1896	John Edward Butcher Martha Dora Knoch	John Edward Butcher Martha Dora Knock 💍 1896/721	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Dressmaker	24 20	Takapau Napier	18 years 20 years	Wesleyan Church, Napier	96/1440	Charles Knoch, father	6 May 1896	Rev. W. H. Beck, Wesleyan
39	20 May 1896	Francis George Rolls Ellen Culshaw	Francis George Rolls Ellen Culshaw 💍 1896/1573	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic	23 22	Spit Napier	23 years 5 years	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	96/2297		20 May 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
40	20 May 1896	Hans Petersen Cicily Ronson	Hans Petersen Cicily Ronson 💍 1896/1393	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	35 22	Spit Napier	3 years 2 months	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	96/2238		23 May 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Napier
41	20 May 1896	George Lucas Minnie Sarah Cantle	George Lucas Minnie Sarah Cantle 💍 1896/723	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Domestic	28 26	Takapau Takapau	18 months 2 years 1 week	Wesleyan Church, Napier	96/1442		20 May 1896	Rev. W. H. Beck, Wesleyan
42	23 May 1896	George Clarke May Williams	George Clarke May Williams 💍 1896/1394	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	24 25	Napier Napier	5 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church, Napier	96/2239		23 May 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
43	3 June 1896	Wm. James Watson Mary Adelaide Maud Cooke	William James Watson Mary Adelaide Maud Cooke 💍 1896/1379	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	25 23	Havelock North Napier	3 years 2 months	Presbyterian Church, Napier	96/2240		3 June 1896	Rev. J. Paterson, Presbyterian
44	4 June 1896	Albert McChalmers Marion Anderson	Albert William Chalmers Marion Anderson 💍 1896/724	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	24 22	Porangahau Saradale	3 months 20 years	Residence of John Simmonds, Hyderabyd Road, Napier	96/1443		4 June 1896	Rev. C. Connor, 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 1899. 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).