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 151

District of Norsewood Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar Abel Webber

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

103

11 February 1897

Samson Johannes Salamonsen
Anna Andersen

Samson Johannes Salamonsen
Anne Anderson
💍 1897/4233

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic

34
28

Norsewood
Norsewood

3 days
22 years

At the house of Jens Andersen, Norsewood

97/342

11 February 1897

Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

No	103
Date of Notice	11 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samson Johannes Salamonsen	Anna Andersen
BDM Match (92%)	Samson Johannes Salamonsen	Anne Anderson
	💍 1897/4233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Jens Andersen, Norsewood
Folio	97/342
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

104

6 March 1897

Carl Frederick Hansen
Sarah Wood

Carl Frederick Hansen
Sarah Wood
💍 1897/4234

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
17

Norsewood
Norsewood

8 years
3 years

At the house of John Wood, Norsewood

97/343

Magdalene Jensen, mother of Carl Frederick Hansen; John Wood, father of Sarah Wood

6 March 1897

Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

No	104
Date of Notice	6 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Frederick Hansen	Sarah Wood
	💍 1897/4234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	8 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of John Wood, Norsewood
Folio	97/343
Consent	Magdalene Jensen, mother of Carl Frederick Hansen; John Wood, father of Sarah Wood
Date of Certificate	6 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

105

8 March 1897

Alois Hulena
Inga Louisa Gunderssen

Alois Hulena
Inga Louisa Gundersen
💍 1897/4236

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
25

Norsewood
Norsewood

21 years
24 years

At the office of the Registrar, Norsewood

97/345

8 March 1897

Abel Webber, Registrar of Marriages, Norsewood

No	105
Date of Notice	8 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alois Hulena	Inga Louisa Gunderssen
BDM Match (98%)	Alois Hulena	Inga Louisa Gundersen
	💍 1897/4236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	21 years	24 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Norsewood
Folio	97/345
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Abel Webber, Registrar of Marriages, Norsewood

106

8 March 1897

Peter George Grant
Charlotte Christiana Pettersen

Peter George Grant
Charlotte Christiane Pettersen
💍 1897/3812

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Domestic

32
20

Dannevirke
Norsewood

3 days
21 years

At the house of W. H. Judkins, Dannevirke

97/357

8 March 1897

Rev. Henry Josiah Lewis (Presbyterian)

No	106
Date of Notice	8 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter George Grant	Charlotte Christiana Pettersen
BDM Match (98%)	Peter George Grant	Charlotte Christiane Pettersen
	💍 1897/3812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Norsewood
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	At the house of W. H. Judkins, Dannevirke
Folio	97/357
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Josiah Lewis (Presbyterian)

107

20 March 1897

Knut Olsen
Olivia Ericksen

Knut Olsen
Olivia Ericksen
💍 1897/4235

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
21

Norsewood
Norsewood

24 years
17 years

At the Lutheran Church, Norsewood

97/344

20 March 1897

Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

No	107
Date of Notice	20 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Knut Olsen	Olivia Ericksen
	💍 1897/4235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Norsewood
Length of Residence	24 years	17 years
Marriage Place	At the Lutheran Church, Norsewood
Folio	97/344
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Niels Nielsen, Topholm (Lutheran)

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).