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 288

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 September 1896 Registrar J. Ward

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
953	4 July 1896	Reginald Dawle Margaret May Kington	Reginald Sawle Margaret May Kingston 💍 1896/2167	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Dressmaker	25 24	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 10 years	Private dwelling of Mrs Kington at Ashburton	96/3024		7 July 1896	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
954	4 August 1896	David Milne Annie Heling	David Milne Annie Helings 💍 1896/14	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Factory hand	21 19	Ashburton Allenton	20 years 19 years	Private dwelling of George Heling at Allenton	96/3026	George Heling, Father	4 August 1896	Revd. J. A. Hamilton
955	5 August 1896	Joseph Ward Hannah Laws	Joseph Ward Hannah Lewis 💍 1896/2446	Widower Spinster	District Registrar	81 55	Ashburton Christchurch	20 years 10 years	St. Peter's Church, Christchurch	96/3110		5 August 1896	Revd. J. Knowles
956	7 August 1896	Fred Phelps Sarah Burrows Lockhard	Fred Phelps Sarah Burrows Lockhard 💍 1896/2168	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	19 21	Ashburton Ashburton	19 years 9 years	Private Dwelling of Mrs Lockhard at Ashburton	96/3025	Daniel Phelps, Father	7 August 1896	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
957	8 August 1896	Charles Edmund Rusale Cora Amelia Penn	Charles Edmund Kusabs Cora Amelia Penn 💍 1896/2165	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Mill Proprietor	24 22	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 4 years	St. Stephen's Church, Ashburton	96/3023		8 August 1896	Revd. J. A. Hamilton
958	27 August 1896	Johnston Montgomery Mary Eliza Davison	Johnston Montgomery Mary Eliza Davison 💍 1896/2159	Widower Widow	Railway Ganger Domestic Servant	41 27	Ealing Ealing	6 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	96/3016		27 August 1896	J. Ward, Registrar
959	31 August 1896	Adam James Moodie Eliza Simms	Adam James Moodie Eliza Timms 💍 1896/2162	Bachelor Spinster	Waggoner	24 22	Laghmor Ashburton	6 years 6 years	Church of England at Waterton	96/3020		31 August 1896	Revd. John Blackbourne
960	31 August 1896	John Millar Elizabeth Sager	John Millar Elizabeth Eager 💍 1896/2106	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Domestic Servant	23 23	Ashburton Ashburton	23 years 6 months	Private Dwelling of Malcolm Millar, Ashburton	96/3027		31 August 1896	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
961	10 September 1896	Ainsley Moore Nellie Sedgley	Ansley Moore Nellie Fechney 💍 1896/2161	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	38 26	Longbeach Ashburton Forks	8 years 3 years	Private Dwelling of David Sedgley, Ashburton Forks	96/3019		10 September 1896	Revd. James Skinner
962	12 September 1896	Herbert Sewell Margaret Elizabeth Rolfe	Herbert Sewell Margaret Elizabeth Rolfe 💍 1896/2160	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic Servant	30 27	Rakaia Mayfield	8 years 3 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	96/3017		12 September 1896	J. Ward, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1901. 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).