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 631

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
80	6 October 1896	Wm Jas Cheyne Mary Grant Gregory	William James Cleeve Mary Grant Gregory 💍 1896/3275	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter Waiter	33 26	Napier Napier	10 years 6 years	Residence of Jas Black, Dalton St, Napier	96/4324	6 October 1896	Rev J G Paterson, Presbyterian
81	6 October 1896	Alexander Forres Adeline Orr		Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Storekeeper	34 25	Karadale Papakura	7 years 25 years	Residence of John Orr, Papakura	96/3510	6 October 1896	Rev C Connor, Presbyterian
82	7 October 1896	Joseph Crowther Kate Hobbs	Joseph Crowther Kate Hobbs 💍 1896/3276	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	34 23	Taupo Napier Napier	5 days 1 month	Residence of Bride's mother, Milton Rd, Napier	96/4325	7 October 1896	Rev J G Paterson, Presbyterian
83	7 October 1896	Michael Quinn Emma Rebecca Farr	Michael Quinn Emma Rebecca Farr 💍 1896/2588	Widower Spinster	Storeman Storeman	38 30	Spit Karadale	7 days 7 days	Meanee Mission Church Meanee	96/3514	7 October 1896	Rev J H Busifield, Roman Catholic
84	10 October 1896	James Alexander Louie Rowe	James Alexander Louie Rowe 💍 1896/3277	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Domestic	35 21	Napier Napier	1 week 1 week	Presbyterian Manse, Napier	96/4326	10 October 1896	Rev J G Paterson, Presbyterian
85	12 October 1896	Alexander Johnson Clara Nicholls	Alexander Johnson Clara Nicholls 💍 1896/2592	Widower Spinster	Cook Domestic	39 26	Napier Clive	8 months 23 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	96/3494	12 October 1896	S Jago, Registrar
86	24 October 1896	Robert Martin Laura Francis Hallett	Robert Martin Laura Frances Hallett 💍 1896/3674	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Domestic	27 23	Napier Napier	18 months 23 years	Cathedral, Napier	96/4805	24 October 1896	Rev De Berdt Hovell, Church of England
87	26 October 1896	George Hawke Annie Nesbitt	George Hawke Annie Nesbitt 💍 1896/3675	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Domestic	25 22	Napier Napier	6 years 22 years	Cathedral, Napier	96/4806	26 October 1896	Dean Hovell, Church of England
88	28 October 1896	William Wilds Minnie Maria Aldridge	William Wilds Minnie Maria Aldridge 💍 1896/2593	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic	32 30	Napier Napier	4 months 3 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Napier	96/3495	28 October 1896	S Jago, Registrar

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).