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 004

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1896 Registrar [illegible]

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
341	6 July 1896	George Miller Johnston Mary Emily Georgina Sage Johnston	George Miller Johnston Mary Emily Georgina Sage 💍 1896/3521	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	33 19	Auckland Devonport	15 years 2 months	House of Mr. M. Trimells	96/4592	George M. Johnston, legal guardian	6 July 1896	Rev. B. L. Thomas, Congregational Independent
342	6 July 1896	William Andrew Wallace Jessie Laurie Montgomery	William Andrew Wallace Jessie Laurie Montgomerie 💍 1896/1706	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 26	Mangere Mangere	28 years 20 years	House of Mr. J. Montgomery	96/2516		6 July 1896	Rev. S. Lowry, Wesleyan
343	6 July 1896	Thomas Lawless Margaret Doran	Thomas Lawless Margaret Doran 💍 1896/3522	Widower Spinster	Ironmonger	44 40	Ohinemuri Auckland	5 years 2 months	Roman Catholic Church	96/4593		6 July 1896	Very Rev. G. McDonald, Roman Catholic
344	7 July 1896	Walter Wright Floyd Matilda Floyd	Walter Wright Matilda Floyd 💍 1896/1696	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 21	Auckland 4 Victoria St	4 days	House of Mr. F. Morgan	96/2507		7 July 1896	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian
345	7 July 1896	William Charles Hemmings Ellen Boyle	William Charles Hemmings Ellen Boyle 💍 1896/3528	Bachelor Spinster	Preserver	22 21	Auckland Auckland	16 months 21 years	House of E. McGregor	96/4598		7 July 1896	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist
346	7 July 1896	John James Whittle Margaret Morris	John James Whittle Margaret Morris 💍 1896/4817	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 19	Auckland Auckland	26 years 11 years	House of Mr. E. Rowe, Albert Street	96/4599	Elizabeth Page, mother	7 July 1896	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist
347	7 July 1896	Frederick Thomas James Rayner Amy Lavinia Webb	Frederick Thomas James Rayner Amy Lavinia Webb 💍 1896/1702	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 20	Auckland Mount Eden	21 years 20 years	House of Mr. E. Webb	96/2513	William Webb, father	7 July 1896	Rev. G. Burgess, Congregational Independent

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 1901. 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).