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 725

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1896 Registrar John Baley

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
45	21 May 1896	George Martin Margaret Catherine Reid	Gregor Martin Margaret Catherine Reid 💍 1896/836	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 19	Matariki Matariki	4 years 5 years	In the residence of Mr. James Treadwell, Whanganui	96/1548	Richard Reid, Father	21 May 1896	James Treadwell, Presbyterian
46	28 May 1896	Edward George Purser Jane Grason	Edward George Purser Jane Marson 💍 1896/796	Bachelor Spinster	Paperhanger	27 25	Whanganui Whanganui	2 years 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriage, Whanganui	96/1549		28 May 1896	The Registrar, Whanganui
47	1 June 1896	Spencer Frederick Reynolds Rose Silby	Spencer Frederick Reynolds Rose Silby 💍 1896/816	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 25	Whanganui Whanganui	2 years 12 years	In the residence of Mr. James Silby, Springvale, Whanganui	96/1553		1 June 1896	H. Peters, Baptist
48	2 June 1896	Emile Fremont Burno Charlotte Emily Burno	Emile Fremont Charlotte Emily Burns 💍 1896/817	Bachelor Spinster	Shunter on Railway	22 19	Aramoho Whanganui	16 years 19 years	In the residence of The Rev. Father Hill, Victoria Avenue, Whanganui	96/1554	Henry Burno, Father	2 June 1896	C. H. Trist, Roman Catholic
49	5 June 1896	John Howard Jerry Susan Jane Jerry	John Howard Susan Jane Ferry 💍 1896/818	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	24 23	Whanganui Whanganui	4 years 23 years	In the residence of Mr. Thomas Watson Jerry, Campbell Place, Whanganui	96/1555		5 June 1896	G. Bond, Wesleyan
50	8 June 1896	Thomas Peters Murray Elizabeth Pearce Murray	Thomas Peters Murray Elizabeth Pearce 💍 1896/819	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 24	Whanganui Whanganui	27 years 24 years	In the residence of Mr. David Murray Wilson, Whanganui	96/1556		8 June 1896	G. Bond, Wesleyan
51	10 June 1896	George Hodson Price Ellen Sarah Price	George Hodson Ellen Sarah Price 💍 1896/820	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	24 19	Whanganui Whanganui	2 years 19 years	In the residence of Mr. Thomas Price, Teath Hill, Whanganui	96/1557	Thomas Price, Father	10 June 1896	G. Bond, Wesleyan

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).