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 217

District of Whanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar John Baker

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

28 January 1897

Ernest Frederick Wildon Schiff
Emma Clemindine Borlase

Ernest Frederick Wilton Schiff
Emma Clementine Borlase
💍 1897/4205

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

26
25

Whanganui
Whanganui

2 weeks
25 years

Church of England, Putiki

97/467

28 January 1897

P. B. Maclean, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	28 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Frederick Wildon Schiff	Emma Clemindine Borlase
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Frederick Wilton Schiff	Emma Clementine Borlase
	💍 1897/4205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	2 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Putiki
Folio	97/467
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1897
Officiating Minister	P. B. Maclean, Church of England

29 January 1897

John Hugh Morgan
Hilda Grey Hiscon

John Hugh Morgan
Hilda Grey Dixon
💍 1897/4210

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

40
25

Whanganui
Whanganui

3 days
1 year

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui

97/472

29 January 1897

Registrar, Whanganui

No	7
Date of Notice	29 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh Morgan	Hilda Grey Hiscon
BDM Match (91%)	John Hugh Morgan	Hilda Grey Dixon
	💍 1897/4210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui
Folio	97/472
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Whanganui

29 January 1897

John Dalziell Brechin
Jessie Dall

John Dalziell Brechin
Jessie Dall
💍 1897/696

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

30
30

Whanganui
Whanganui

30 years
11 years

In the residence of Mr. Peter Bell, St. Hill St.

97/1671

29 January 1897

John Ross, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	29 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dalziell Brechin	Jessie Dall
	💍 1897/696
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	30 years	11 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Peter Bell, St. Hill St.
Folio	97/1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1897
Officiating Minister	John Ross, Presbyterian

8 February 1897

John Albert Hawke
Bessie Taylor

John Albert Hawke
Bessie Taylor
💍 1897/4206

Bachelor
Spinster

Veterinary Surgeon

32
33

Whanganui
Whanganui

3 years
33 years

St. John's Church of England, Whanganui

97/468

8 February 1897

P. B. Maclean, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	8 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Hawke	Bessie Taylor
	💍 1897/4206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Veterinary Surgeon
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church of England, Whanganui
Folio	97/468
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1897
Officiating Minister	P. B. Maclean, Church of England

8 February 1897

John Gibson
Pricilla Hackess

John Gibson
Priscilla Hackett
💍 1897/4224

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover

24
25

Whanganui District
Whanganui

24 years
20 years

In the residence of the Rev. G. Bond, Victoria Avenue, Whanganui

97/462

8 February 1897

G. Bond, Wesleyan

No	10
Date of Notice	8 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibson	Pricilla Hackess
BDM Match (91%)	John Gibson	Priscilla Hackett
	💍 1897/4224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Whanganui District	Whanganui
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of the Rev. G. Bond, Victoria Avenue, Whanganui
Folio	97/462
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1897
Officiating Minister	G. Bond, Wesleyan

10 February 1897

Edward McSweeney
Ann Looglod

Edward McSweeney
Ann Toogood
💍 1897/4211

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
25

Whanganui
Whanganui

5 years
4 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui

97/473

10 February 1897

Registrar, Whanganui

No	11
Date of Notice	10 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McSweeney	Ann Looglod
BDM Match (91%)	Edward McSweeney	Ann Toogood
	💍 1897/4211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Whanganui	Whanganui
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Whanganui
Folio	97/473
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Whanganui

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).