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 679

District of Hunterville 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
68	27 October 1896	Fredric Charles Wolfershan Julia Willcox		Bachelor Widow	Farmer Housewife	35 34	Hunterville Hunterville	3 years 14 days	Registrar's Office, Hunterville	96/4310		27 October 1896	J. H. Ford
69	11 November 1896	William Foster Isabella May Bartlett	Frederick William Foster Isabella Mary Carter 💍 1896/3334	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	24 25	Rata Rata	3 years 4 years	Public Hall, Rata	96/4336		11 November 1896	David Martin
70	18 November 1896	Thomas Owen Jones Julia Jane Killen	Thomas Owen Jones Celia Jane Allen 💍 1896/3285	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 23	Hunterville Hunterville	3 days 6 months	Presbyterian Church, Hunterville	96/4311		18 November 1896	J. H. Ford
71	19 November 1896	Maurice Thompson Annie Louisa Layford	Maurice Thompson Annie Louisa Luxford Gormley 💍 1896/3332	Bachelor Spinster	Boarding House Keeper Domestic	24 20	Ohinewai Hunterville	6 months 14 days	Ohinewai	96/4334	Fanny Ellen, mother of bride	19 November 1896	David Martin
72	23 November 1896	James Edward Herdaway Lydia Frances Davy	James Edward Reddaway Rosa Francis Anna Davy 💍 1896/3333	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser Domestic	21 20	Palmerston North Palmerston North	3 years 1½ years	Father's Residence, Palmerston North	96/4335	Green Robert Davy, father of bride	23 November 1896	David Martin
73	24 November 1896	Patrick Francis Troy Helena Leton Dickson	Patrick Francis Troy Helena Seaton Dickson 💍 1896/3613	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	24 21	Hunterville Hunterville	10 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Hunterville	96/717		24 November 1896	P. H. Symons
74	09 December 1896	Henry Albert Brown Sarah Elizabeth Allen	Henry Albert Brown Sarah Elizabeth Allen 💍 1896/3312	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 20	Rata Rata	3 years 3 years	Residence of Elizabeth Allen, Rata	96/4338	Elizabeth Allen, mother of bride	09 December 1896	David Martin
75	10 December 1896	Alexander Henry Wilson Agnes Crawford	Alexander Howie Wilson Agnes Crawford 💍 1896/3335	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Domestic	32 21	Hunterville Palmerston North	10 years 15 years	Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North	96/4337	Walter Crawford, father of bride	10 December 1896	David Martin
76	28 December 1896	Robert Murland Martha Elizabeth Ottaway	Robert Murland Martha Elizabeth Ottoway 💍 1896/3313	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	31 18	Palmerston North Palmerston North	1½ years 12 months	Registrar's Office, Hunterville	96/4339	George Ottaway, father of bride	24 December 1896	David Martin
77	28 December 1896	George Walter Hummel Esther Wanstall	George Walter Rummel Esther Wanstall 💍 1896/3286	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	22 18	Manawatu Manawatu	3 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Hunterville	96/4312	Alfred Wanstall, father of bride	28 December 1896	J. H. Ford

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 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).