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 021

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar H. Lyons

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

100

26 February 1897

Alexander Rene Boge
Fanny Proudfoot

Alexander Rene Joseph Coge
Fanny Proud
💍 1897/1463

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

34
31

Mercer
Auckland

St. Matthews Church Auckland

97/2520

26 February 1897

Rev. D. Fitzgerald, Church of England

No	100
Date of Notice	26 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Rene Boge	Fanny Proudfoot
BDM Match (71%)	Alexander Rene Joseph Coge	Fanny Proud
	💍 1897/1463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Mercer	Auckland
Length of Residence	30
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	97/2520
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Fitzgerald, Church of England

101

26 February 1897

Walter Henry Coulrick
Ann Ganley

Wallis Henry Cowbrick
Ann Ganley
💍 1897/4110

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

24
22

Auckland
Panmure

18 months
2.5 years

St. Patrick's Church

97/193

26 February 1897

Rev. J. Reid, Well Donald, Church of Rome

No	101
Date of Notice	26 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Coulrick	Ann Ganley
BDM Match (88%)	Wallis Henry Cowbrick	Ann Ganley
	💍 1897/4110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Panmure
Length of Residence	18 months	2.5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	97/193
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reid, Well Donald, Church of Rome

102

27 February 1897

Alfred Ernest Bray
Annie Ramsbottom

Alfred Ernest Bray
Annie Ramsbottom
💍 1897/4041

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
9

St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland

97/69

27 February 1897

Arch. B.T. Dudley, Church of England

No	102
Date of Notice	27 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ernest Bray	Annie Ramsbottom
	💍 1897/4041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	9
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church Auckland
Folio	97/69
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Arch. B.T. Dudley, Church of England

103

27 February 1897

Albert Wood
Wilhelmina Brown

Albert Wood
Wilhelimina Brown
💍 1897/3377

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

22
20

Auckland
Auckland

22 years
5

House of M. Beaney, Arch Hill

97/102

William Henry Brown, father

27 February 1897

Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	27 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Wood	Wilhelmina Brown
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Wood	Wilhelimina Brown
	💍 1897/3377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	5
Marriage Place	House of M. Beaney, Arch Hill
Folio	97/102
Consent	William Henry Brown, father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Sommerville, Presbyterian

104

1 March 1897

Alexander Calder
Annie Watkins

Alexander Calder
Annie Watkins
💍 1897/3748

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
18

Auckland
Auckland

21 years
14

House of M.J. Lloyd, Gundry Street

97/103

Eliza Lloyd, mother

1 March 1897

J.J. Bull, Church of Christ

No	104
Date of Notice	1 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Calder	Annie Watkins
	💍 1897/3748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	21 years	14
Marriage Place	House of M.J. Lloyd, Gundry Street
Folio	97/103
Consent	Eliza Lloyd, mother
Date of Certificate	1 March 1897
Officiating Minister	J.J. Bull, Church of Christ

105

2 March 1897

William Stewart Hillhouse
Annette Middleton

William Stewart Hillhouse
Annette Middleton
💍 1897/3756

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
21

Porth W.A.
Auckland

10 months
2 years

House of M. Tuphook, Laurie Street

97/123

2 March 1897

Rev. K.F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

No	105
Date of Notice	2 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart Hillhouse	Annette Middleton
	💍 1897/3756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Porth W.A.	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of M. Tuphook, Laurie Street
Folio	97/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. K.F. Macnicol, Presbyterian

106

2 March 1897

James Andrew Forsyth
Julia Gordon

James Andrew Forsyth
Julia Lordon
💍 1897/4367

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

24
26

Auckland
Auckland

15 months
3 years

St. Benedict's Church

97/411

2 March 1897

Rev. D. Degroote, Church of Rome

No	106
Date of Notice	2 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Andrew Forsyth	Julia Gordon
BDM Match (96%)	James Andrew Forsyth	Julia Lordon
	💍 1897/4367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	97/411
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Degroote, Church of Rome

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).