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 117

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1897

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
1	9 January 1897	Ronald McKenris Margaret Whitelaw	Donald McKenzie Margaret Fletcher Whitelaw 💍 1897/4176	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 30	Wawii Wamo	20 years 10 years	The Residence of Brides Parents, Wamo	97/235		9 January 1897	Gy Roby
2	11 January 1897	Andrew Barrie Miller Margaret Rands	Andrew Barrie Miller Margaret Lands 💍 1897/4154	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 23	Maungakaramea Maungakaramea	26 years 20 years	The Residence of Brides Parents, Maungakaramea	97/237		11 January 1897	J W Smiers
3	21 January 1897	Friday Hui Kawa Mary Wells	Friday Hui Te Awa Mary Wells 💍 1897/4155	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Wairohe Maunu	all life all life	Registrar's Office, Whangarei	97/238		21 January 1897	The Registrar
4	1 February 1897	Donald Kenneth McGregor Anslie Reed	Donald Kenneth McGregor Anohi Reid 💍 1897/3797	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Whangarei Heads Whangarei	27 years 24 years	Dwelling House of Albert Reed, Whangarei	97/366		1 February 1897	L C Cubitt
5	8 February 1897	John McKinnon Jane King	John McKinnon Jane King 💍 1897/3798	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 21	Hukerenui Ruakaka	30 years 21 years	Episcopal Church, Whangarei	97/367		8 February 1897	L C Cubitt
6	12 February 1897	George Francis Harvey Adela Croft	George Frances Harvey Adela Croft 💍 1897/3799	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nurse	30 32	Wamo Whangarei	6 months 3 days	Episcopal Church, Whangarei	97/368		12 February 1897	J H Hawken
7	24 February 1897	Allan Edward Bissett Isavel Aldred	Allan Edward Bisset Isabel Aldred 💍 1897/4156	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 18	Opuawhanga Opuawhanga	15 years 18 years	The Residence of Brides Parents	97/239	Alfred Aldred, father	24 February 1897	J H Hawken
8	2 March 1897	William Hart Matilda Dent	William Hart Matilda Dent 💍 1897/3800	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 28	Whangarei Whangarei	7 years 28 years	The Residence of Mrs A Morgan, Kensington	97/369		2 March 1897	L C Cubitt
9	8 March 1897	Murdock McInnes Priscilla Eleanor Elliott	Murdoch McInnes Priscilla Eleanor Elliott 💍 1897/4177	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	24 21	Kaurihorehore Wamo	24 years 17 years	The Residence of Brides Parents, Wamo	97/236		8 March 1897	Gy Roby
10	10 March 1897	William Henry Middleton Annie Ellen Cossill	William Henry Middleton Annie Ella Cossell 💍 1897/3801 William Henry Middleton Annie Eliza Larner 💍 1898/849	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	21 23	Whangarei Maunu	17 years 2 years	The Residence of Brides Parents, Maunu	97/370		10 March 1897	L C Cubitt

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).