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 045

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar William Alfred Barton

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

926

4 January 1897

John McOuch
Hannah Maria Ryan

John Mouat
Hannah Maria Ryan
💍 1897/4268

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
None

27
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Gisborne

97/165

4 January 1897

Rev. S. P. Ahern, Roman Catholic Minister

No	926
Date of Notice	4 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McOuch	Hannah Maria Ryan
BDM Match (82%)	John Mouat	Hannah Maria Ryan
	💍 1897/4268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	None
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Gisborne
Folio	97/165
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. P. Ahern, Roman Catholic Minister

927

13 January 1897

Daniel Swarbrick
Elizabeth Bates

Daniel Swarbrick
Elizabeth Bates
💍 1897/4269

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
None

21
20

Nuhaka
Gisborne

10 years
2 years

Church of England

97/166

Robert Bates, father of the said Elizabeth Bates

13 January 1897

Rev. A. S. Webb, Church of England Minister

No	927
Date of Notice	13 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Swarbrick	Elizabeth Bates
	💍 1897/4269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	None
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	97/166
Consent	Robert Bates, father of the said Elizabeth Bates
Date of Certificate	13 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Webb, Church of England Minister

928

18 January 1897

John Henry Hill
Dorothy Valinda Urnalebourn

John Henry Hill
Dorothy Valinda Windlebourn
💍 1897/4270

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
None

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

20 years
8 months

Church of England

97/167

18 January 1897

Rev. H. W. Williams, Church of England Minister

No	928
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hill	Dorothy Valinda Urnalebourn
BDM Match (94%)	John Henry Hill	Dorothy Valinda Windlebourn
	💍 1897/4270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	None
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	97/167
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. Williams, Church of England Minister

929

8 February 1897

Charles Henry McCracken
Henrietta Waller

Charles Henry McCracken
Henrietta Walter
💍 1897/4265

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

26
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 years
4 years

At the residence of Albert Street, Gisborne

97/162

8 February 1897

Rev. Joseph Blight, Wesleyan Minister

No	929
Date of Notice	8 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry McCracken	Henrietta Waller
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Henry McCracken	Henrietta Walter
	💍 1897/4265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Albert Street, Gisborne
Folio	97/162
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Blight, Wesleyan Minister

930

18 February 1897

George Sargent
Jane Carron

George Sargent Brown
Janet Carron
💍 1897/4286

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

38
22

Gisborne
Pakatahi

5 years
4 years

At Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

97/159

18 February 1897

W. A. Barton, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	930
Date of Notice	18 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sargent	Jane Carron
BDM Match (81%)	George Sargent Brown	Janet Carron
	💍 1897/4286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Pakatahi
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At Office of Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	97/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1897
Officiating Minister	W. A. Barton, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).