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 227

District of Wellington 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
31	25 January 1897	John Wilmer Hood Florence Tabor	John Wilmer Wood Florence Tabor 💍 1897/3384	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	Weslayan Church, Tinakori Road	97/571		25 January 1897	Revd A B Chappell
32	25 January 1897	Henry Harris Ada Moore	Henry Harris Ada Moon 💍 1897/3842	Bachelor Spinster	Tanner	29 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Harris, Rosburgh Street	97/531		25 January 1897	Revd I K Elliott
33	25 January 1897	Edward Young Ada Louisa C Hall	Edward Young Ada Louisa Cox Hall 💍 1897/3913	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	23 23	Wellington Wellington	1 week years	St Peters Church	97/517		25 January 1897	Revd A C Waters
34	26 January 1897	Walter Homer Catherine Jane Mitchell	Walter Homer Catherine Jane Mitchell 💍 1897/4256	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Revd J Guy, Cuba Street	97/557		26 January 1897	Revd Jas Guy
35	26 January 1897	John Oakly Henrietta Maud Richardson	John Oakly Henrietta Richardson 💍 1897/929	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 23	Wellington Wellington	years months	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/489		26 January 1897	W T Wyatt
36	28 January 1897	William Arthur Brown Jessie Ellen Easton	William Arthur Brown Jessie Ellen Easton 💍 1897/3853	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 21	Wellington Wellington	months months	House of Mr Avery, Frederick Street	97/532		28 January 1897	Revd I K Elliott
37	30 January 1897	George William Gough Jane Townsend	George William Gough Jane Townsend 💍 1897/906	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	18 18	Petone Petone	years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/490	Maria Gough, mother; H Smith, mother	30 January 1897	W T Wyatt
38	1 February 1897	Lionel John Browne Louisa Helen Thacker	Lionel John Browne Louisa Hellen Thacker 💍 1897/907	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	21 17	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/491	James Henry Thacker, father	1 February 1897	W T Wyatt
39	2 February 1897	Carl Christian Overbye Marion Glen Watt	Carl Christian Overbye Marion Glen Watt 💍 1897/4260	Bachelor Spinster	Musician	26 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Johns Parsonage, Terrace	97/561		2 February 1897	Revd Josiah Ward
40	2 February 1897	William Henry Blowers Edith Emily Legge	William Henry Blowers Edith Emily Legge 💍 1897/3855	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Weslayan Church, Newtown	97/551		2 February 1897	Revd Josiah Ward
41	2 February 1897	Frank Elvines Grace Mullins	Frank Eloinas Grace Mullins 💍 1897/4253	Divorced Spinster		32 30	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr Wilson, Thomson Quay	97/565		3 February 1897	Rev. J R Glasson
42	4 February 1897	Peter Nicholson Sarah Garner	Peter Nicholson Sarah Garner 💍 1897/908	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	34 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/492		4 February 1897	W T Wyatt
43	5 February 1897	Arthur Lockey Mary Lenihan	Arthur Lockey Mary Lenihan 💍 1897/3843	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	22 26	Wellington Wellington	1 month 9 months	St Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/540		5 February 1897	Rev. Thomas Devoy V.G.
44	6 February 1897	Edward George Tierney Frances Eleanor Harrison	Edward George Tierney Frances Eleanor Harrison 💍 1897/3850	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Jeffrey, Hankey St, Wellington	97/547		6 February 1897	Rev. A F Turner (Gospel of Christ)

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 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).