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 025

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar E. 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

126

10 March 1897

Allen Dale
Gertrude Gobbie Cottingham

Widower
Widow

Carter

31
33

Auckland
Auckland

31 years
12 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

97/28

10 March 1897

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	126
Date of Notice	10 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Dale	Gertrude Gobbie Cottingham
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	31 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	97/28
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1897
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

127

11 March 1897

Walter Hatt
Julia Jane Segler

Walter Flatt
Julia Jane Pegler
💍 1897/4033

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
30

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
27 years

Wesleyan Church Onehunga

97/61

11 March 1897

Rev. W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan

No	127
Date of Notice	11 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hatt	Julia Jane Segler
BDM Match (89%)	Walter Flatt	Julia Jane Pegler
	💍 1897/4033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Onehunga
Folio	97/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Watkin, Wesleyan

128

12 March 1897

Henry Horton Thomson
Jessie Buchanan Thomson

Henry Horton
Jessie Buchanan Thomson
💍 1897/3772

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

26
25

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
7 years

House of Mr. J. Thomson, Waiheke

97/40

12 March 1897

Rev. H. H. Johnston, Church of England

No	128
Date of Notice	12 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Horton Thomson	Jessie Buchanan Thomson
BDM Match (80%)	Henry Horton	Jessie Buchanan Thomson
	💍 1897/3772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Thomson, Waiheke
Folio	97/40
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Johnston, Church of England

129

13 March 1897

Joseph David Paterson
alias Gordon
Elizabeth Kavanagh

Joseph David Gordon
Elizabeth Kavanagh
💍 1897/3374

Bachelor
Widow

Mill Hand

35
34

Auckland
Auckland

35 years
34 years

Registrar's Office Auckland

97/29

13 March 1897

E. H. Lyons, Registrar

No	129
Date of Notice	13 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph David Paterson alias Gordon	Elizabeth Kavanagh
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph David Gordon	Elizabeth Kavanagh
	💍 1897/3374
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mill Hand
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	35 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	97/29
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1897
Officiating Minister	E. H. Lyons, Registrar

130

15 March 1897

George Steele Lynge
Evelyn Came

George Peele Lynge
Evelyn Came
💍 1897/3767

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
37

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
7 years

House of Mr. N. M. Smith, Richmond Rd, Auckland

97/111

15 March 1897

Rev. J. Sharp, Primitive Methodist

No	130
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Steele Lynge	Evelyn Came
BDM Match (95%)	George Peele Lynge	Evelyn Came
	💍 1897/3767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. N. M. Smith, Richmond Rd, Auckland
Folio	97/111
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Sharp, Primitive Methodist

131

15 March 1897

Edwin Joseph Bell
Laura Kneebone

Edwin Joseph Bell
Laura Kneebone
💍 1897/3773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
23

Hunua
Auckland

25 years
3 days

House of Mr. J. Woods, Mt. Roskill

97/41

15 March 1897

Rev. J. M. Vealie, Wesleyan

No	131
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Joseph Bell	Laura Kneebone
	💍 1897/3773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hunua	Auckland
Length of Residence	25 years	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Woods, Mt. Roskill
Folio	97/41
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Vealie, Wesleyan

132

15 March 1897

Adam McConnell
Henrietta Ann Butterworth

Adam McConnell
Henrietta Ann Gutterworth
💍 1897/4084

Bachelor

Miner

20
29

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
10 months

St. Thomas' Church Auckland

97/140

15 March 1897

Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, Church of England

No	132
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adam McConnell	Henrietta Ann Butterworth
BDM Match (98%)	Adam McConnell	Henrietta Ann Gutterworth
	💍 1897/4084
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Miner
Age	20	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Auckland
Folio	97/140
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, 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).