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 769

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 December 1896 Registrar Albert E. Gresswell

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

26 October 1896

Frederick Lowry
Ada B. Bourman

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper

28
28

Hokitika
Hokitika

6 years
4 months

Residence of F. Lowry, Hokitika

96/3644

26 October 1896

Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Hokitika

No	34
Date of Notice	26 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lowry	Ada B. Bourman
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	6 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Lowry, Hokitika
Folio	96/3644
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Hokitika

29 October 1896

Felix Stephenson
Flora E. Stobbs

Peter Stephenson
Flora Harriet Stokes
💍 1896/2675

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30
19

Hokitika
Hokitika

4 days
4 years

Residence of F. Stephenson, Hokitika

96/3643

29 October 1896

Rev. H. C. Douglas, Presbyterian, Hokitika

No	35
Date of Notice	29 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Stephenson	Flora E. Stobbs
BDM Match (65%)	Peter Stephenson	Flora Harriet Stokes
	💍 1896/2675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	4 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Stephenson, Hokitika
Folio	96/3643
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Douglas, Presbyterian, Hokitika

23 November 1896

Henry J. Fromann
Annie E. Deadraks

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
24

Hokitika
Hokitika

10 years
20 years

Residence of H. J. Fromann, Hokitika

96/3645

23 November 1896

Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Hokitika

No	36
Date of Notice	23 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry J. Fromann	Annie E. Deadraks
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. J. Fromann, Hokitika
Folio	96/3645
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Hokitika

24 November 1896

William Costello
Annie Guest

William Costello
Annie East
💍 1896/2674

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

21
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
4 months

Residence of W. Costello, Hokitika

96/3642

24 November 1896

Rev. J. D. Fraser, Presbyterian, Hokitika

No	37
Date of Notice	24 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Costello	Annie Guest
BDM Match (86%)	William Costello	Annie East
	💍 1896/2674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Costello, Hokitika
Folio	96/3642
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Fraser, Presbyterian, Hokitika

24 November 1896

Fred G. Oliver
Emily E. Stobbs

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

32
26

Hokitika
Hokitika

8 years
14 years

All Saints Church, Hokitika

96/3647

24 November 1896

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

No	38
Date of Notice	24 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred G. Oliver	Emily E. Stobbs
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Hokitika
Folio	96/3647
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

23 December 1896

Thos. S. O'Brien
Bridget F. Fahy

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

27
17

Hokitika
Okarito

5 years
5 years

Bomara Buildings, Okarito

96/4448

J. Fahy, father

23 December 1896

Rev. F. J. O'Callaghan, Roman Catholic, Stafford

No	39
Date of Notice	23 December 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thos. S. O'Brien	Bridget F. Fahy
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Okarito
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Bomara Buildings, Okarito
Folio	96/4448
Consent	J. Fahy, father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. O'Callaghan, Roman Catholic, Stafford

29 December 1896

Jas. Gordon Webster
Alice Webbs

James Garden Webster
Alice Wells
💍 1896/2678

Bachelor
Spinster

Timberman

28
24

Rimu
Woodstock

3 years
2 years

St. Johns, Rimu

96/3646

29 December 1896

Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Rimu

No	40
Date of Notice	29 December 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jas. Gordon Webster	Alice Webbs
BDM Match (78%)	James Garden Webster	Alice Wells
	💍 1896/2678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timberman
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Rimu	Woodstock
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns, Rimu
Folio	96/3646
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Wood, Church of England, Rimu

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 1908. 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).