Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, 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 220

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
274	18 August 1896	George Gadby Jane Muirhead	George Cudby Jane Muirhead 💍 1896/2311	Bachelor Widow	Coach Proprietor	34 25	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	96/2903		18 August 1896	Rev. John Lane
275	19 August 1896	William Martin Joseph Harriet Annie Vince	William Martin Joseph Dunn Harriet Annie Vince 💍 1896/2103	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	21 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs. Jessie Vince, Wellington	96/2877	Harriet Rebecca Vince, Mother	19 August 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
276	20 August 1896	Sidney Clark Barratt Annie Clair Howden	Sidney Clark Barraud Annie Clair Mowbray 💍 1896/3512	Widower Spinster	Bank Manager	42 28	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	96/4625		20 August 1896	Rev. Joshua Jones
277	24 August 1896	William Thomas Elizabeth Boyer	William Thomas Elizabeth Boyer 💍 1896/4803	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	64 74	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	4 years 4 years	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4426		24 August 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
278	25 August 1896	Rees William Mary Maud Adams	Rees Williams Mary Maud Adams 💍 1896/2047	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	27 24	Petone Petone	2 months 2 weeks	Presbyterian Church, Petone	96/2922		25 August 1896	Rev. W. G. Waters
279	27 August 1896	Thomas Bulla Wyay Florence Hallett	Thomas Bullen Wyatt Florence Hallett 💍 1896/2082	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	28 27	Wellington Wellington	8 days 1 day	St. Peter's Church	96/2871		27 August 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott
280	27 August 1896	Samuel Milne Mary Fields Heap	Samuel Milne Porritt Mary Fielden Heap 💍 1896/4804	Bachelor Spinster	Weaver	27 27	Wellington Wellington	5 days 1 day	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4427		27 August 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
281	28 August 1896	James Rock Janie Stafford	James Rock Janie Stafford 💍 1896/2104	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 27	Wellington Wellington	7 months 3 weeks	House of Mr. Cairns, Jamieson Terrace	96/2878		28 August 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
282	28 August 1896	James Segalas Winifred Curry	James Sigalas Winifred Curry 💍 1896/1998	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	36 23	Wellington Wellington	1 year 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	96/2867		28 August 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
283	1 September 1896	George Dingeldei Ann Leask	George Dingeldeci Ann Leask 💍 1896/2089	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	30 23	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mrs. Dixon, Brandon Quay	96/2886		1 September 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
284	1 September 1896	Patrick Hype Mary Raer	Patrick Lyne Mary Rea 💍 1896/1997	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	40 35	Wellington Wellington	4 months 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	96/2866		1 September 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
285	1 September 1896	Arthur Curry Ada McMillan	Arthur Curry Ada McMillan 💍 1896/2105	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Jamieson, Jamieson Terrace	96/2879		1 September 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
286	2 September 1896	William Robert Goodrick Isabel Maud Vile	William Robert Goodrick Isabella Maud Vile 💍 1896/139	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 24	Wellington Wellington	3 days 3 days	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4428		2 September 1896	Ven. Archdeacon Fancourt
287	3 September 1896	Christopher Kennedy Alice Sanders	Christopher Kennedy Alice Sanders 💍 1896/1999	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 25	Wellington Wellington	10 months 4 years	St. Mary of the Angels	96/2868		3 September 1896	Very Rev. J. Devoy
288	4 September 1896	William Hamman Margaret McFarlane	William Hammond Margaret McFarlane 💍 1896/2088	Widower Spinster	Farmer	45 30	Wellington Wellington	5 days 10 days	St. John's Church, Rangitikei	96/2885		4 September 1896	Rev. J. Paterson

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).