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 338

District of Timaru 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
49	1 July 1896	William Philip Lane Elizabeth Cain	William Philip Lane Elizabeth Cain 💍 1896/150	Widower Spinster	Baker	27 years 21 years	Levels Station Seadown	6 years 5 years	Residence of Mr. Samuel Cain, Seadown	96/4582		1 July 1896	Reverend John Dickson, Presbyterian Minister
50	2 July 1896	William McPherson Violet Kerton	William McPherson Violet Karton 💍 1896/2251	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 years 18 years	Timaru Timaru	4 years 18 years	Residence of Mr. William Sutton, Timaru	96/3156	William Kerton, Father	2 July 1896	Reverend Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
51	15 July 1896	James Archibald Harry Eliza Ann Williams	James Archibald Hay Eliza Ann Williams 💍 1896/2208	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	5 years 3 days	Wesleyan Church, Timaru	96/3146		15 July 1896	Reverend Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
52	17 July 1896	James William Chamberlain Mary Maria Priest	James William Chamberlain Mary Maria Priest 💍 1896/2253	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 years 21 years	Pareora Pareora	25 years 21 years	Wesleyan Church, Pareora	96/3158		17 July 1896	Reverend Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
53	20 July 1896	Herbert Charles Packman Eliza Jane Pearson	Herbert Charles Packman Eliza Jane Pearson 💍 1896/2209	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	23 years 18 years	Residence of Reverend Joseph Sharp, Waiti Road	96/3149	John Pearson, Father	20 July 1896	Reverend Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
54	20 July 1896	Daniel Davies Alice Eliza Burford	Daniel Davies Alice Eliza Burford 💍 1896/2252	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	44 years 28 years	Timaru Timaru	19 years 16 years	Residence of Mr. James Alfred Burford, Timaru	96/3157		20 July 1896	Reverend George Williams, Congregational Independent Minister
55	31 July 1896	Peter Valentine Foy Annie Selina Best	Peter Valentine Fox Annie Selina Best 💍 1896/2211	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	12 years 19 years	Residence of Mr. Charles Massey, Timaru	96/3148	Elizabeth Massey, Mother. Father dead.	31 July 1896	Reverend Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
56	10 August 1896	Silas Williams Jessie Green	Silas Williams Jessie Green 💍 1896/2254	Widower Spinster	Hunter	47 years 30 years	Timaru Glengrammel	9 years 10 years	Residence of Mr. Samuel Green, Glengrammel	96/3159		10 August 1896	Reverend Charles E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
57	14 August 1896	William Newton Christina Ann Elizabeth Stock	William Newton Christina Ann Elizabeth Stock 💍 1896/4681	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Smith	21 years 19 years	Timaru Kingsdown	21 years 10 years	Residence of Mr. Robert Amies, Timaru	96/3149	Charles Stock, Father	14 August 1896	Reverend Joseph Sharp, Primitive Methodist Minister
58	14 August 1896	Amos Jackson Isabella Gould	Amos Jackson Isabella Gould 💍 1896/4682	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	26 years 20 years	Otawa Valley Opihi	5 years 20 years	Residence of Mrs. Jane Gould, Opihi	96/3169	Jane Gould, Mother. Father dead.	14 August 1896	Reverend Stanley Ellison, Church of England, Glengapui

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).