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 222

District of Wellington Quarter ending 20 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
304	17 September 1896	Ernest Edward Gellon Rosalie Phoenix Lachman	Ernest Edward Gillon Rosalie Phoenix Lachmann 💍 1896/2091	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Lachman, Webb Street	96/2888	Joseph Lachman, father	18 September 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
305	19 September 1896	Mark Robinson Annie McCormack	Mark Robinson Annie McCormack 💍 1896/2048	Widower Widow	Fruiterer	34 30	Petone Petone	years years	House of Mr. McCormack, Petone	96/2923		19 September 1896	Rev. A. Thomson
306	19 September 1896	James Henry Wood Annie Elizabeth O'Connor	James Henry Wood Annie Elizabeth O'Connor 💍 1896/4798	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	24 21	Petone Petone	years years	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	96/4396		19 September 1896	Rev. Joshua Jones
307	21 September 1896	Joseph Peter Donnelly Ellen Sullivan	Joseph Peter Donnelly Ellen Sullivan 💍 1896/2000	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	34 32	Wellington Wellington	6 months 14 days	St. Mary of the Angels	96/2869		21 September 1896	Very Rev. F. D. Perry
308	21 September 1896	William Reid Thain Elizabeth Marie Pleming	William Raitt Strain Elizabeth Marie Pennycook 💍 1896/2092	Bachelor Spinster	Artilleryman	31 33	Wellington Wellington	6 months 1 year	St. John's Church, Willis Street	96/2889		21 September 1896	Rev. J. Paterson
309	21 September 1896	Nicholson Benson Todd Helen Mary Johnson		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	37 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2857		21 September 1896	W. T. Wyatt
310	22 September 1896	Daniel Thomas Sinclair Frances Sinclair	Daniel Thomas Sinclair Frances Sinclair Croucher 💍 1896/1989	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2858		22 September 1896	W. T. Wyatt
311	23 September 1896	William Johnson Sarah Jane Gorrie	William Johnson Sarah Jane Gorrie 💍 1896/4748	Bachelor Spinster	Bushman	21 21	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/2859		22 September 1896	W. T. Wyatt
312	22 September 1896	William Henry Gifford Alice May Eberles	William Henry Gifford Alice May Eberlet 💍 1896/4799	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 19	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	1 week 2 days	St. James Church, Lower Hutt	96/4397	John Eberles, father	22 September 1896	Rev. Joshua Jones
313	23 September 1896	Herbert Clarence Marks Florence McLauchlin	Herbert Clarence Martin Florence McLaughlen 💍 1896/2287	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. McLauchlin, Kent Terrace	96/2895		23 September 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
314	24 September 1896	Frederick Charles Knigge Janet Welsh Donald	Frederick Charles Knigge Janet Welsh Donald 💍 1896/2305	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	30 31	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Donald, Kent Terrace	96/2897		24 September 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
315	24 September 1896	Frederick James Bond Annie Hamilton	Frederick James Bond Annie Hamilton 💍 1896/3574 Robert Ferrall Annie Hamilton 💍 1896/1872	Bachelor Spinster	Insurance Agent	26 20	Wellington Wellington	6 months 1 year	St. Andrew's Church	96/4634		24 September 1896	Rev. C. I. Hogg
316	25 September 1896	Jesse Moss Jessie McKenzie	Jesse Moss Jessie McKenzie 💍 1896/2298	Bachelor Spinster	Artilleryman	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. McKenzie, Nairn Street	96/2896		25 September 1896	Rev. J. K. Elliott
317	26 September 1896	Thomas Muir Grant Caroline Margaret Summer	Thomas Muir Grant Caroline Margaret Murdock 💍 1896/3409	Widower Spinster	Draughtsman	38 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney Street	96/4423		26 September 1896	Rev. James Guy
318	28 September 1896	Duncan John McTaggart Isabella Sarah Carter	Duncan John McGregor Isabella Sarah Carter 💍 1896/3575	Bachelor Spinster	Chemist	27 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Andrew's Church	96/4635		28 September 1896	Rev. C. I. Hogg

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).