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 785

District of Ashburton 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
970	5 October 1896	Damson Tretheway Annie Jeffs	Samson Trethewey Annie Jeffs 💍 1896/156	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	30 20	Ruapuna Hinds	12 years 4 years	Wesleyan Parsonage	96/3659	Mary Emerson, formerly Jeffs, mother	6 October 1896	Revd. J. G. Brooke
971	12 October 1896	William Bruce Louisa Ellen Olsen	William Bruce Louisa Ellen Olsen 💍 1896/2772	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	36 23	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 18 years	Registrar's Office	96/3656		12 October 1896	J. Mard, Registrar
972	19 October 1896	Thomas Henry Undrill Bertha Mary Bonnington	Thomas Henry Undrill Bertha Mary Bonnington 💍 1896/2775	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	28 23	Ashburton Tinwald	20 years 7 years	Wesleyan Church	96/3660		19 October 1896	Revd. J. G. Brooke
973	22 October 1896	Robert Dare Neilson Kathleen Mariam Healy	Robert Dare Wilson Kathleen Miriam Healy 💍 1896/3396	Bachelor Spinster	Hair-dresser	23 20	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 20 years	Roman Catholic Church	96/4460	Michael Healy, father	24 October 1896	Revd. J. J. O'Donnell
974	29 October 1896	John O'Grady Ellen Quaid	John O'Grady Ellen Quaid 💍 1896/4579	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	36 24	Winchmore Geraldine	11 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	96/3972		29 October 1896	Revd. Father Bowers
975	9 November 1896	Robert Reynolds Lyne Florence Mary Prior	Robert Reynolds Lyne Florence Mary Prior 💍 1896/2773	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 25	Ashburton Ashburton	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office	96/3657		15 November 1896	J. Mard, Registrar
976	11 November 1896	Henry Adam Mackay Emma Amelia Orr	Henry Adam MacKay Emma Amelia Orr 💍 1897/4344	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Teacher	23 24	Mayfield Ashburton	9 months 5 years	The Hall at Ashburton
977	18 November 1896	Robert Fitzroy Spensley Sarah Doyle	Robert Fitzroy Spensley Sarah Doyle 💍 1896/2963	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	23 23	Mayfield Ruapuna	9 months 16 years	The Hall at Ruapuna	96/3962		18 November 1896	Revd. R. J. Murray
978	5 December 1896	Frederick Jones Isabella Anderton	Frederick Jones Isabella Anderson 💍 1896/2964 Frederick Jones Emily Clementson 💍 1897/4461	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Dressmaker	28 24	Flemington Flemington	3 years 20 years	Presbyterian Church	96/3963		5 December 1896	Revd. James S. Skinner
979	17 December 1896	Sidney Hands Amy Jane Hickman	Sidney Hands Amy Jane Hickman 💍 1896/2965	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 25	Tinwald Tinwald	7 years 9 years	Presbyterian Church	96/3964		17 December 1896	Revd. C. Abernethy

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).