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 781

District of Akaroa 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
20	26 October 1896	John Peter Petterson Carn Elizabeth Anderson	John Peter Petterson Carn Elizabeth Anderson 💍 1896/2684	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 19	Le Bou's Bay Le Bou's Bay	22 years 3 years	House of Jonas Peter Petterson, Le Bou's Bay	96/3651	Peter Anderson, father	26 October 1896	W. Barnett, Baptist
21	28 October 1896	Alfred Phillip Farrell Jane Hannah Adams	Alfred Phillip Farrell Jane Hannah Adams 💍 1896/2765	Widower Widow	Baker	41 43	Akaroa Akaroa	14 years 6 weeks	House of Alfred Phillip Farrell, Akaroa	96/3654		28 October 1896	T. J. Smyth, Church of England
22	17 November 1896	Charles Edward Adams Eleanor Robina Jacobson	Charles Edward Adams Eleanor Robina Jacobson 💍 1896/2754	Bachelor Spinster	Lecturer	26 28	Akaroa Akaroa	3 days 15 years	St Peter's Church, Akaroa	96/3652		14 November 1896	T. J. Smyth, Church of England
23	24 November 1896	Richard Fenton Christina Rankin	Richard Fenton Christina Rankin 💍 1896/2682	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	21 24	Laverick's Bay O'Kain's Bay	2 years 3 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Akaroa	96/3649		24 November 1896	H. W. Dawson, Registrar
24	7 December 1896	Alfred Shadbolt Camilia Ann Hoonan	Alfred Shadbolt Camilia Ann Noonan 💍 1896/2771	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 24	Robinson's Bay Robinson's Bay	24 years 24 years	House of John James Hoonan, Robinson's Bay	96/3655		7 December 1896	T. J. Smyth, Church of England
25	25 December 1896	Robert Brown Esther Kedge	Robert Brown Esther Kedge 💍 1896/2683	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	36 26	Akaroa Akaroa	5 years 26 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Akaroa	96/3650		25 December 1896	H. W. Dawson, Registrar
26	28 December 1896	Henry James Bennett Margaretta Rubina Barbara Wilson	Henry James Bennett Margaretta Rubina Barbara Wilson 💍 1896/4875	Widower Spinster	Mariner	54 25	Little Akaloa Little Akaloa	46 years 4 months	Church of England, Little Akaloa	96/3653		28 December 1896	E. H. Blakiston, Church of England
27	31 December 1896	James Rae Margaret Jolly	James Rae Margaret Jolly 💍 1897/1482	Bachelor Spinster	Letter-carrier	22 24	Akaroa Akaroa	22 months 24 years	House of Tom Glynan, Akaroa	97/2523		31 December 1896	A. M. Wright, Presbyterian

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).