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 984

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar Wm. H. S. Macgregor

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

1842

24 April 1896

James Bell Sinclair
Robina Murray Robertson

James Bell Sinclair
Robina Murray Robertson
💍 1896/1490

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

22
21

Oamaru
Oamaru

22 years
8 years

The house of James Robertson at Reed Street Oamaru

96/2192

24 April 1896

Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland)

No	1842
Date of Notice	24 April 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bell Sinclair	Robina Murray Robertson
	💍 1896/1490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The house of James Robertson at Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	96/2192
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland)

1843

4 May 1896

Michael Hamilton Scott
Constance Sarah Duance Grenfell

Michael Hamilton Scott
Constance Sarah Duance Grenfell
💍 1896/1494

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager

32
36

Awamoa, Oamaru
Oamaru

5 1/2 years
36 years

In the house of the said Constance A. D. Grenfell at Reed Street Oamaru

96/2196

4 May 1896

Rev. Wm. B. Marten (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

No	1843
Date of Notice	4 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Hamilton Scott	Constance Sarah Duance Grenfell
	💍 1896/1494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager
Age	32	36
Dwelling Place	Awamoa, Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	36 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the said Constance A. D. Grenfell at Reed Street Oamaru
Folio	96/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. B. Marten (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

1844

4 May 1896

Joseph Woods Wallace
Emma Elizabeth Matthews

Joseph Woods Wallace
Emma Elizabeth Matthews
💍 1896/1492

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

29
22

Enfield, Oamaru
Enfield, Oamaru

12 years
11 years

The house of Jonathan Moscrop at Ken Street Oamaru

96/2194

4 May 1896

Rev. Wm. B. Marten (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

No	1844
Date of Notice	4 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Woods Wallace	Emma Elizabeth Matthews
	💍 1896/1492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Enfield, Oamaru	Enfield, Oamaru
Length of Residence	12 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The house of Jonathan Moscrop at Ken Street Oamaru
Folio	96/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. B. Marten (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

1845

21 May 1896

Hugh McFauchlan
Margaret Massey

Hugh McLaughlan
Margaret Massey
💍 1896/1653

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer

26
25

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
9 years

At the house of the Rev. William A. McMullen at Reed Street, Oamaru

96/2438

21 May 1896

Rev. William Alexander McMullen (Roman Catholic Church)

No	1845
Date of Notice	21 May 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh McFauchlan	Margaret Massey
BDM Match (93%)	Hugh McLaughlan	Margaret Massey
	💍 1896/1653
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. William A. McMullen at Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	96/2438
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Alexander McMullen (Roman Catholic Church)

1846

1 June 1896

William Hughes
Isabella Eliza Church

William Hughs
Isabella Eliza Church
💍 1896/4826

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

46
39

Oamaru
Oamaru

5 days
2 months

St. Lukes Church of England, Oamaru

96/2197

1 June 1896

Rev. Algernon Gifford (Church of England)

No	1846
Date of Notice	1 June 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hughes	Isabella Eliza Church
BDM Match (96%)	William Hughs	Isabella Eliza Church
	💍 1896/4826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	5 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church of England, Oamaru
Folio	96/2197
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. Algernon Gifford (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 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).