Intentions to Marry, 1897 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840411, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 25 2025

1897 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 011

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897

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

19 January 1897

Charles Theodore Emil Geiseler
May Victoria Postlewaight

Charles Theodore Emil Geisele
May Victoria Postlewaight
💍 1897/3762

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

21
17

Auckland
Auckland

14 years
17 years

House of Mrs. J. A. Postlewaight, Hellerley St.

97/106

Sarah A. Postlewaight, mother

19 January 1897

Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

No	37
Date of Notice	19 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Theodore Emil Geiseler	May Victoria Postlewaight
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Theodore Emil Geisele	May Victoria Postlewaight
	💍 1897/3762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. J. A. Postlewaight, Hellerley St.
Folio	97/106
Consent	Sarah A. Postlewaight, mother
Date of Certificate	19 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Ward, Primitive Methodist

19 January 1897

Richard Henry Harnett
Florence Taylor

Richard Henry Harnett
Florence Taylor
💍 1897/4078

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

26
29

Parua Bay
Auckland

26 years
28 years

House of Rev. J. Mulvihill, Wyndham Street

97/84

19 January 1897

Rev. J. Mulvihill, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	19 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Harnett	Florence Taylor
	💍 1897/4078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Parua Bay	Auckland
Length of Residence	26 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Mulvihill, Wyndham Street
Folio	97/84
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mulvihill, Roman Catholic

20 January 1897

Sidney Ernest Postlewaight
Eva Watt

Sidney Ernest Postlewaight
Eva Watt
💍 1897/4010

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

21
21

Auckland
Auckland

21 years

Registrars Office, Auckland

97/12

20 January 1897

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	20 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Ernest Postlewaight	Eva Watt
	💍 1897/4010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	97/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1897
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

21 January 1897

William Nicholas Tregonning
Mary Rafter

William Nicholas Tregonning
Mary Raftis
💍 1897/4011

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
29

New Plymouth
New Plymouth

1 year

Registrars Office, Auckland

97/13

21 January 1897

J. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	21 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nicholas Tregonning	Mary Rafter
BDM Match (91%)	William Nicholas Tregonning	Mary Raftis
	💍 1897/4011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Auckland
Folio	97/13
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1897
Officiating Minister	J. Thompson, Deputy Registrar

22 January 1897

John Gustav Hansen
Martha Clarke

John Gustav Hansen
Martha Clarke
💍 1897/3751

Joseph Barlow
Martha Clarke
💍 1897/4016

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

48
36

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
30 years

House of Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Selwyn Street

97/116

22 January 1897

Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	22 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gustav Hansen	Martha Clarke
	💍 1897/3751
BDM Match (64%)	Joseph Barlow	Martha Clarke
	💍 1897/4016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	48	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	30 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Selwyn Street
Folio	97/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

22 January 1897

André Pierre Griffiths
Elizabeth Mary Macfarlane

Andre Pierre Griffiths
Elizabeth Mary Macfarlane
💍 1897/4063

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

32
21

Auckland
Remuera

2 years
21 years

St. Marks Church

97/92

22 January 1897

Rev. W. Beatty, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	22 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	André Pierre Griffiths	Elizabeth Mary Macfarlane
BDM Match (96%)	Andre Pierre Griffiths	Elizabeth Mary Macfarlane
	💍 1897/4063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church
Folio	97/92
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, 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 1903. 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).