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 732

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
114	9 April 1896	George Henry Veale Lottie Mago	George Henry Veale Lottie Bragge 💍 1896/872	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	32 30	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Home of Mr. R. A. Mears, Roxburgh Street	96/1587		9 April 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
115	10 April 1896	Axel Fredrik Peterson Alice Elizabeth Pearce	Axel Fredrik Peterson Alice Elizabeth Pearce 💍 1896/1527	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	34 28	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	Home of Mr. Hunter, Taranaki Street	96/2275		10 April 1896	Rev. Josiah Ward
116	13 April 1896	William Colman Bridget Ruane	William Coleman Bridget Ruane 💍 1896/873	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	34 26	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Mary's Cathedral	96/1588		13 April 1896	Rev. J. Dawson
117	13 April 1896	William Henry Wallace Emily Mary Elizabeth Susan	William Henry Wallace Emily Mary Eliza Dixon 💍 1896/874	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Makara Wellington	1 year 1 year	Wesley Church	96/1589		13 April 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
118	13 April 1896	Richard Hooper Louisa Maria Emma Hawkins	Richard Hooper Louisa Emma Maria Hawkins 💍 1896/875	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 19	Karori Karori	4 days 4 days	House of Mr. Hawkins, Karori	96/1590	George Herbert Hawkins, father	13 April 1896	Rev. W. Bamber
119	13 April 1896	Frederick Kingan Isabella Lewis	Frederick Kingan Isabella Lewis 💍 1896/876	Bachelor Spinster	Jockey	23 21	Wellington Karori	1 year 1 month	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1591		13 April 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
120	14 April 1896	George Cameron Sarah Gillon	George Camnell Sarah Gillon 💍 1896/1560	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	26 23	Wellington Wellington	1 month 1 month	House of Mr. Gillon, Adelaide Road	96/2276		14 April 1896	Rev. Josiah Ward
121	14 April 1896	William Henry Bowen Mary Catherine Kearney	William Henry Bowden Mary Catharine Kearney 💍 1896/877	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 21	Karori Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary's Cathedral	96/1592		14 April 1896	Rev. J. Dawson
122	15 April 1896	John Hunter Fanny O'Shea	John Hunter Fanny O'Shea 💍 1896/878	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 26	Wellington Wellington	1 month 12 months	St. Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street	96/1593		15 April 1896	Very Rev. F. Dervay
123	15 April 1896	Stanley Crawford Elena Fanning	Stanley Crawford Castle Clara Fanning 💍 1896/880	Bachelor Spinster	Builder	24 22	Wellington Wellington	1 year 2 years	St. Mary of the Angels	96/1594		15 April 1896	Rev. W. Goggan
124	18 April 1896	Henry Thomas Englert Martha Selous	Henry Thomas Englert Martha Leevers 💍 1896/881	Bachelor Widow	Butcher	28 20	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/1595		18 April 1896	Mr. T. Wyatt
125	21 April 1896	William Glendinning Edith Beatrice Wood	William Glendinning Edith Beatrice Hood 💍 1896/1574	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	28 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 10 days	St. Andrew's Church	96/2299		21 April 1896	Rev. C. L. Ogg
126	22 April 1896	Charles John Frimick Newman Annie O'Conner	Charles John Frederick Newman Annie O'Connor 💍 1896/882	Widower Spinster	Labourer	40 27	Wellington Wellington	2 days 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	96/1596		22 April 1896	Very Rev. F. Dervay
127	22 April 1896	John Joseph Neddo Margaret Ann Daly	John Joseph Indd Margaret Anne Daly 💍 1896/883	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	St. Mary of the Angels	96/1597		22 April 1896	Rev. J. Ainsworth
128	24 April 1896	Harry Cole Susanna Lowry	Harry Cole Susannah Lowry 💍 1896/1571	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Wellington Wellington	2 months 1 year	Home of Mrs. Clark, Rolleston Street	96/2277	Eliza Lowry, mother	24 April 1896	Rev. Josiah Ward

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).