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 735

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar William Thomas Wyatt

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
129	24 April 1896	Richard Eve Badham Sophia Prideaux Goodridge	Richard Tree Badham Sophia Prideaux Goodridge 💍 1896/884	Bachelor Spinster	Professional Accountant Spinster	46 42	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Church	96/1598		24 April 1896	Rev. T. H. Sprott
130	24 April 1896	George Edward Harris Ann Elizabeth Stead	George Edward Harris Ann Elizabeth Steel 💍 1896/853	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	21 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Rev. C. Dallaston, Webb Street	96/1627	Elizabeth Stead, mother	24 April 1896	Rev. C. Dallaston
131	25 April 1896	William Power Margaret Brennahan	William Power Margaret Bresmhan 💍 1896/787	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 34	Wellington Wellington	14 days 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	96/1599		25 April 1896	Rev. W. Goggan
132	25 April 1896	Alfred Charles Johnson Alice King	Alfred Charles Johns Alice King 💍 1896/788	Bachelor Spinster	Moulder	24 22	Wellington Johnsonville	4 years 4 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1600		25 April 1896	Mr. Wyatt
133	25 April 1896	Charles Wheeler Martha McDowell		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Skinner, Jacob's Place (Not solemnized. See letters attached.)		Jane Skinner, mother	25 April 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
134	25 April 1896	Jack Horton Mary Foster	Jack Morton Mary Foster 💍 1896/791	Bachelor Spinster	Journalist	29 28	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Peter's Church	96/1603		25 April 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters
135	27 April 1896	Alfred Leavers Mary Margaret Strachan	Alfred Liardet MacDonald Mary Margaret Strachan 💍 1896/792	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 4 years	House of Mr. Treleaven, Hopper Street	96/1604		27 April 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
136	27 April 1896	James Franklin Naomi Esther Houghton	James Franklin Naomi Esther Haughton Cawte 💍 1896/793	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	39 28	Wellington Wellington	1 week 6 days	St. Mary's Cathedral	96/1605		27 April 1896	Rev. S. Dawson
137	27 April 1896	William Berti Jennie Aitken	William Berti Jennie Aitken 💍 1896/1575	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	23 24	Wellington Wellington	6 months 4 years	St. Andrew's Church	96/2300		27 April 1896	Rev. C. S. Egg
138	28 April 1896	Joseph Edgar Key Theresa Rowley	Joseph Edgar Keys Theresa Rowley 💍 1896/794	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 22	Upper Hutt Wellington	4 years 2 weeks	St. Mary of the Angels	96/1606		28 April 1896	Rev. W. Goggan
139	28 April 1896	Francis Henry Cox Elizabeth Morgan	Francis Henry Cox Elizabeth Margaret McDonald 💍 1896/795	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	25 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Winter, Ebor Street	96/1607		28 April 1896	Rev. B. I. Hallows
140	28 April 1896	William Thomson Bessie Cunningham	William Thomson Bessie Cunningham 💍 1896/4848	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	37 24	Wellington Wellington	4 years 3 months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1608		28 April 1896	Mr. Wyatt
141	29 April 1896	Herbert Gilbert Parsons Mary Jane Samuels	Herbert Gilbert Parsons Mary Jane Aamodt 💍 1896/844	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 33	Wellington Wellington	4 days 1 month	St. Mark's Church	96/1609		29 April 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
142	29 April 1896	John Corlett Charlotte Short	John Corlet Charlotte Short 💍 1896/855	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	28 27	Petone Petone	4 weeks 4 years	House of Mr. Short, Petone	96/1610		29 April 1896	Rev. Joshua Jones
143	29 April 1896	Samuel Martin Elizabeth Mary Petherick	Samuel Morton Arcus Elizabeth Maraime Petherick 💍 1896/861	Widower Spinster	Clerk	39 32	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. John's Church	96/1611		29 April 1896	Rev. J. Paterson

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 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).