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 885

District of East Taieri 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
21	1 October 1896	John Mitchell Annie M'Neill	John Mitchell Annie McNeill 💍 1896/3609	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	North Taieri North Taieri	3 days 3 days	House of Henry Taylor of North Taieri	96/4713		1 October 1896	Rev. Tho. Paulin, Presbyterian
22	15 October 1896	Norman Kenneth Sligo Margaret Elder	Norman Kenneth Sligo Margaret Elder 💍 1896/3065	Bachelor Spinster	Boilermaker	30 26	Mosgiel Mosgiel Junction	3 days 26 years	House of Robert Elder of Mosgiel Junction	96/4123		15 October 1896	Rev. Wm. Will, Presbyterian
23	16 October 1896	John Allan Mary Reid	John Allan May Reid 💍 1896/3610 Joseph Burrell Mary Reid 💍 1896/4596	Widower Spinster	Farmer	45 34	West Taieri North Taieri	14 years 34 years	House of Donald Reid, West Taieri	96/4714		16 October 1896	Rev. Tho. Paulin, Presbyterian
24	16 October 1896	John Milne Jane Drummond	John Milne Jane Drummond 💍 1896/3669	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Assistant	23 18	East Taieri Mosgiel	11 years 18 years	Presbyterian Manse, Mosgiel	96/4777		16 October 1896	Rev. Jas. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
25	7 November 1896	Thomas Finnie Ada Letitia West	Thomas Finnie Ada Letitia West 💍 1896/179	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Saddle Hill Saddle Hill	25 years 4 years	House of William West, Saddle Hill	96/4776		7 November 1896	Rev. M. Watt D.D., Presbyterian
26	12 December 1896	Joseph Smith Janet Drummond	Joseph Smith Janet Drummond 💍 1896/3670	Bachelor Spinster	Warper	31 29	Mosgiel Mosgiel	11 years 29 years	House of Mrs. Elizabeth Drummond of Mosgiel	96/4778		12 December 1896	Rev. Jas. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
27	19 December 1896	William Cowan Margaret Blackie	William Cowan Margaret Blackie 💍 1896/3671	Bachelor Spinster	Coachpainter	29 21	East Taieri Mosgiel	3 1/2 years 1 1/2 years	Presbyterian Manse, Mosgiel	96/4799		19 December 1896	Rev. Jas. M. McKerrow, Presbyterian
28	22 December 1896	William Wilson Gibson Rose Clark	William Wilson Gibson Rose Anna Elizabeth Clark 💍 1896/3611	Bachelor Spinster	Woolsorter	28 24	Mosgiel North Taieri	28 years 20 years	House of John Clark, North Taieri	96/4715		22 December 1896	Rev. Tho. Paulin, Presbyterian
29	24 December 1896	William Alexander Robertson Sarah Jane Sherburd	William Alexander Robertson Sarah Jane Sherburd 💍 1897/4540	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 27	Henley Henley	3 weeks 19 years	House of John Connor	97/1052		24 December 1896	Rev. Jas. A. Somerville, Presbyterian
30	29 December 1896	Hugh Gillespie Annie C. B. Currie	Hugh Gillespie Annie Calder Bell Currie 💍 1897/4541	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	25 20	Mosgiel North Taieri	10 years 20 years	House of Williamson Currie, North Taieri	97/1053	Williamson Currie, father	29 December 1896	Rev. Tho. Paulin, 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).