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 718

District of Wellington 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
429	12 December 1896	David James Henderson Annama Barbara Hanasin	David James Henderson Andrina Barbara Harrison 💍 1896/3490	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder	25 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4537		12 December 1896	W. E. Wyatt
430	12 December 1896	James Alfred Short Ellen Mabey	James Alfred Short Ellen Mabey 💍 1896/3372	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	20 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Baptist Church, Ohio Road	96/4356	Margaret Mabey, mother	12 December 1896	Rev. C. D. Ollaston
431	12 December 1896	Thomas Goodchild Hannah Gusdin	Thomas Goodchild Harriett Cusdin 💍 1896/3488	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 20	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4535		12 December 1896	W. E. Wyatt
432	14 December 1896	George Monk Lillian Mary Bryant	George Monk Lilian Mary Bryant 💍 1896/3384	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 23	Makara Ohariu	years years	Anglican Church, Johnsonville	96/4471		14 December 1896	Ven. Archdeacon Fancourt
433	14 December 1896	Julius Schult Elizabeth Irvine	Julius Schultz Elizabeth Ervine 💍 1896/3339	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 27	Wellington Taranaki Street	years years	Wesley Church	96/4392		14 December 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
434	14 December 1896	Joseph Edwards Ellen Lacey	Joseph Edwards Ellen Macey 💍 1896/3412	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	32 25	Wellington Webb Street	years years	Primitive Methodist Church	96/4408		14 December 1896	Rev. James Guy
435	14 December 1896	Arthur Henry Winder Harriet Cecilia Grant McKay	Arthur Henry Winter Harriet Cecilia Grant McKay 💍 1896/3365	Bachelor Spinster	Sawmiller	22 22	Wellington Wellington	year years	St. Marks Church	96/4374		14 December 1896	Rev. R. Coffey
436	14 December 1896	Thomas James Brennan Edith White	Thomas James Brennan Edith White 💍 1896/3338	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 22	Wellington Vivian Street	5 days 6 months	House of Mrs. White	96/4391		14 December 1896	Rev. W. Baumber
437	14 December 1896	John Joseph Parkes Florence Elizabeth Calous	John Joseph Parker Florence Elizabeth Calvert 💍 1896/4797 John James Purvis Florence Elizabeth Bastings 💍 1896/1355	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 27	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	House of Rev. W. B. Redstone, Featherston Street	96/4365		14 December 1896	Rev. W. B. Redstone
438	15 December 1896	Henry Newton Morrison Elizabeth Ella Normonthy	Henry Newton Morrison Elizabeth Ellen Nosworthy 💍 1896/3336	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	29 35	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	96/4381		15 December 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters
439	16 December 1896	James Mackie Mary Jane Hebbers	James Mackie Mary Jane Hebbend 💍 1896/3489 James Mackie Mary Alice Hayward 💍 1896/2909	Bachelor Spinster	Portmanteau maker	21 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4536	Jane Annable, mother	16 December 1896	W. E. Wyatt
440	16 December 1896	Edwin James King Jr. Kate Katherine Heffernon	Edwin James King Kate Katherine Hefferman 💍 1897/3934	Bachelor Spinster	Music Seller	30 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peter's Church	97/514		16 December 1896	Rev. W. C. Waters
441	17 December 1896	Charles Israel Nathan Mary Sarah Claire Poulden	Charles Israel Nathan Mary Sarah Clarice Poulter 💍 1896/3491	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	32 24	Wellington Wellington	4 months 2 years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	96/4538		17 December 1896	W. E. Wyatt
442	17 December 1896	Walter Kelsly Mary Hume	Walter Kilsby Mary Hume 💍 1896/3561	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Ohariu Wellington	years years	Presbyterian Church, Wellington Terrace	96/4640		17 December 1896	Rev. J. G. Ogg
443	18 December 1896	Hathaway Valentine Salma Farmers Cottle	Hathaway Valentine Futter Salina Frances Cottle 💍 1896/4558	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	26 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Paul's Cathedral	96/4435	Charles Joseph Cottle, father	18 December 1896	Rev. J. H. Sprott

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).