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 193

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar Samuel Johnston

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

7 January 1897

Orlando Nathaniel Collins Pragnell
Mary Alice Maud Harrison

Olando Nathaniel Collins Pragnell
Mary Alice Maud Harrison
💍 1897/4369

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic duties

26
23

Masterton
Upper Plain

4 years in the residence of Frank Perry Harrison
23 years Upper Plain

97/413

7 January 1897

Rev. H. Smalley, Wesleyan

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Orlando Nathaniel Collins Pragnell	Mary Alice Maud Harrison
BDM Match (99%)	Olando Nathaniel Collins Pragnell	Mary Alice Maud Harrison
	💍 1897/4369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Upper Plain
Length of Residence	4 years in the residence of Frank Perry Harrison	23 years Upper Plain
Marriage Place
Folio	97/413
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Smalley, Wesleyan

21 January 1897

James Wallace Cochrane
Emma Frances Eleanor Callen

James Wallace Cochrane
Emma Francis Eleanor Cullen
💍 1897/4348

Bachelor
Spinster

Benchman
Domestic duties

25
24

Masterton
Masterton

3 years in the residence of William Callen, Queen Street, Masterton
24 years Queen Street, Masterton

97/415

21 January 1897

Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	21 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wallace Cochrane	Emma Frances Eleanor Callen
BDM Match (96%)	James Wallace Cochrane	Emma Francis Eleanor Cullen
	💍 1897/4348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Benchman	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 years in the residence of William Callen, Queen Street, Masterton	24 years Queen Street, Masterton
Marriage Place
Folio	97/415
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

22 February 1897

Frederick Butcher
Caroline Annie Lawrence

Frederick Butcher
Caroline Annie Lawrance
💍 1897/4347

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

20
20

Masterton
Masterton

20 years in the residence of John Butcher, Kuripuni
7 months Kuripuni

97/414

22 February 1897

Rev. H. Smalley, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	22 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Butcher	Caroline Annie Lawrence
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Butcher	Caroline Annie Lawrance
	💍 1897/4347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	20 years in the residence of John Butcher, Kuripuni	7 months Kuripuni
Marriage Place
Folio	97/414
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Smalley, Wesleyan

11 March 1897

Frew Shaw
Maud Emily McKay

Frew Shaw
Maud Emily McKay
💍 1897/4349

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Servant

29
22

Kuripuni
Masterton

14 years in the residence of Frew Shaw, Kuripuni Lane
3 years Kuripuni Lane

97/416

11 March 1897

Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	11 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frew Shaw	Maud Emily McKay
	💍 1897/4349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Servant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Kuripuni	Masterton
Length of Residence	14 years in the residence of Frew Shaw, Kuripuni Lane	3 years Kuripuni Lane
Marriage Place
Folio	97/416
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

15 March 1897

Leonard Compton
Eliza Teils

Leanord Compton
Eliza Field
💍 1897/4350

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
25

Mikimiki
Millimiti

1 year
1 year

The Presbyterian Church, Masterton

97/417

15 March 1897

Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	15 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Compton	Eliza Teils
BDM Match (75%)	Leanord Compton	Eliza Field
	💍 1897/4350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Mikimiki	Millimiti
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Masterton
Folio	97/417
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Wood, Presbyterian

22 March 1897

Frederic Edmund Chalmers
Flora Helen Wallace

Frederick Edmund Chalmers
Flora Helen Wallace
💍 1897/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic duties

26
32

Tauera
Masterton

25 years
5 years

St. Matthews Church, Masterton

97/418

22 March 1897

Rev. A. C. Yorke, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	22 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederic Edmund Chalmers	Flora Helen Wallace
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Edmund Chalmers	Flora Helen Wallace
	💍 1897/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Tauera	Masterton
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Masterton
Folio	97/418
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Yorke, 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).