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 801

District of Akaroa 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3	2 April 1896	George Whitelaw Euphemia Mary Peteaithly	George Whitelaw Euphemia Mary Pitcaithley 💍 1896/1611	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	33 34	Sedgemere Pigeon Bay	8 months at the house 34 years of Euphemia	Ellesmere	96/2470	2 April 1896	G. K. Stowell, Presbyterian
4	10 April 1896	Antonio Kotteroshi Ellen Glynan	Antonio Kotlowski Ellen Glynan 💍 1896/4718	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 24	German Bay Akaroa	18 years 24 years	Roman Catholic Church	96/1772	10 April 1896	R. S. Dunham, Roman Catholic
5	11 April 1896	David Hunt Margaret Barwick	David Hunt Margaret Barwick 💍 1896/1000	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	29 26	Pigeon Bay Duvauchelle	27 years 26 years	Anglican Church	96/1771	11 April 1896	J. F. Smyth, Church of England
6	18 May 1896	James King Isabella Bogan	James King Isabella Vogan 💍 1896/1392 James King Elizabeth Stevenson 💍 1896/160	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 25	Duvauchelle Duvauchelle	3 days in the house of George Bogan 25 years	Residence of George Bogan	96/2237	18 May 1896	A. M. Wright, Presbyterian
7	20 May 1896	David James Waghorn Eva Rosa Bennett	David James Waghorn Eva Rosa Bennett 💍 1896/1001	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Little Akaroa Little Akaroa	29 years at the office of Registrar 22 years	Akaroa	96/1773	20 May 1896	H. W. Dawson, Registrar
8	23 May 1896	Arthur Frederick Jungall Curry Margaret Ceary	Arthur Frederick Gungall Margaret Curry 💍 1896/1002	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	23 21	Akaroa Long Bay Road	3 years at the house of John Curry 21 years	Akaroa	96/1774	23 May 1896	J. F. Smyth, Church of England
9	5 June 1896	Walter Pulford Ellen Elizabeth Houghton	Walter Pulford Ellen Elizabeth Houghton 💍 1896/1003	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	35 32	Akaroa Akaroa	3 days 32 years	St Peter's Church	96/1775	5 June 1896	J. F. Smyth, Church of England
10	10 June 1896	Robert James McCausland Matilda White	Robert James McCausland Matilda White 💍 1896/1675	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Pigeon Bay Pigeon Bay	9 months at the house of Alexander White 21 years	Pigeon Bay	96/2379	10 June 1896	E. H. Blakiston, Church of England

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).