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 938

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 1896 Registrar Thomas Mayall

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

10 October 1896

James Gordon
Elizabeth McPhail Maxwell

James Gordon
Elizabeth McIntyre Maxwell
💍 1896/3234

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Nil

31
32

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

3 years
3 years

House of Andrew McPhail

96/4231

10 October 1896

Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	10 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gordon	Elizabeth McPhail Maxwell
BDM Match (88%)	James Gordon	Elizabeth McIntyre Maxwell
	💍 1896/3234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nil
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Andrew McPhail
Folio	96/4231
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

27 October 1896

Michael Halleran
Margaret Collins

Michael O'Halleran
Margaret Collins
💍 1896/3655

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Nil

24
26

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

6 years
3 years

Catholic Church

96/4286

27 October 1896

Rev. M. McGrath, Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	27 October 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Halleran	Margaret Collins
BDM Match (94%)	Michael O'Halleran	Margaret Collins
	💍 1896/3655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Nil
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	96/4286
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McGrath, Catholic

6 November 1896

Charles Brown
Margaret McCormack

Charles Brown
Margaret McCormack
💍 1896/170

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Nil

28
19

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

4 years
14 years

House of M. McCormack, Port Chalmers

96/4228

Margaret McCormack, mother

6 November 1896

Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	6 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Brown	Margaret McCormack
	💍 1896/170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Nil
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of M. McCormack, Port Chalmers
Folio	96/4228
Consent	Margaret McCormack, mother
Date of Certificate	6 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

21 November 1896

William Crawford
Grace Franklin Goudie

William Crawford
Grace Rankin Goudie
💍 1896/3232

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Tailoress

25
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

May 15 years
10 years

House of Robert Goudie, Mansfield

96/4229

21 November 1896

Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	21 November 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crawford	Grace Franklin Goudie
BDM Match (93%)	William Crawford	Grace Rankin Goudie
	💍 1896/3232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Tailoress
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	May 15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Robert Goudie, Mansfield
Folio	96/4229
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Clement, Presbyterian

12 December 1896

Robert Telfer
Annie Alicia Muttars

Robert Telfer
Annie Alicia Buttars
💍 1896/3233

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Nil

21
22

Mount Cargill, near Port Chalmers
Mount Cargill, near Port Chalmers

6 months
2 years

House of W. Muttars

96/4230

12 December 1896

Rev. J. H. Giffon, Wesleyan

No	21
Date of Notice	12 December 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Telfer	Annie Alicia Muttars
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Telfer	Annie Alicia Buttars
	💍 1896/3233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Nil
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Mount Cargill, near Port Chalmers	Mount Cargill, near Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of W. Muttars
Folio	96/4230
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Giffon, Wesleyan

31 December 1896

Alexander Bell
Charlotte Smith

Alexander Bell
Charlotte Ellen Smith
💍 1897/4549

Alexander Symon
Margaret Smith
💍 1897/238

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Nil

26
23

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

22 years
23 years

House of Rev. F. C. Watts, Port Chalmers

97/1038

31 December 1896

Rev. F. C. Watts, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	31 December 1896
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bell	Charlotte Smith
BDM Match (86%)	Alexander Bell	Charlotte Ellen Smith
	💍 1897/4549
BDM Match (60%)	Alexander Symon	Margaret Smith
	💍 1897/238
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nil
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	22 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. C. Watts, Port Chalmers
Folio	97/1038
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1896
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. C. Watts, Church of England

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).