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 941

District of East Taieri 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
8	1 April 1896	Alexander Marshall Eliza Findlater Weir	Alexander Marshall Eliza Findlater Weir 💍 1896/1657	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Teacher	28 25	Mosgiel Mosgiel	6 years 5 years	Presbyterian Church	1 April 1896	Rev. J. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
9	27 April 1896	John James Ellen Bower	John James Ellen Bower 💍 1896/4595	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	30 26	Kuri Bush Kuri Bush	3 days 1 month	House of David Power, Kuri Bush	27 April 1896	Rev. Wm. Will, Presbyterian
10	11 May 1896	Edward Pringle Elizabeth Nicol Hislop	Edward Pringle Elizabeth Nicol Hislop 💍 1896/1636	Bachelor Spinster	Leather Finisher	24 24	Mosgiel Mosgiel	3 days 19 years	House of John Hislop, Mosgiel	11 May 1896	Rev. J. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
11	11 May 1896	Robert Garrett Jessie Pollock formerly Cranley	Robert Garrett Jessie Pollock 💍 1896/1637	Bachelor Divorced	Shepherd	30 29	Mosgiel Mosgiel	3 days 6 years	House of Mrs. Janet Pollock, Mosgiel	11 May 1896	Rev. J. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
12	21 May 1896	William Reid Jane Stevenson	William Reid Jane Stevenson 💍 1896/149	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 34	East Taieri East Taieri	3 days 31 years	House of Mr. Robert Stevenson, East Taieri	21 May 1896	Rev. Wm. Will, Presbyterian
13	2 June 1896	William Duncan Mary Ellen Webb	William Duncan Mary Ellen Webb 💍 1896/1279	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	24 22	Mount Allan Mullocky Gully	2 years 22 years	Office of Registrar, Mosgiel	2 June 1896	D. Macleod, Registrar
14	5 June 1896	Andrew Allison Aitken Janet Law	Andrew Allison Aitken Janet Law 💍 1896/1268	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 24	East Taieri East Taieri	32 years 24 years	House of Robert Law, East Taieri	5 June 1896	Rev. Wm. Will, Presbyterian
15	13 June 1896	Henry John Jefcoate Jessie Dalgleish Robison	Henry John Jefcoate Jessie Dalgleish Robison 💍 1896/1794	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 25	Riccarton Riccarton	4 days 20 years	House of Mrs. Margaret Robison, Riccarton	13 June 1896	Rev. F. W. Boreham, Baptist
16	20 June 1896	Alexander Patton Janet Blair	Alexander Patton Janet Blair 💍 1896/1269 Alexander Gow Mary Reid Blair 💍 1897/4737	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 28	East Taieri East Taieri	3 days 28 years	House of Robert Blair, East Taieri	20 June 1896	Rev. Wm. Will, Presbyterian

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).