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 231

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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
75	1 March 1897	Frederick Percy Melch Bertha Catherine Drederich	Frederick Percy Welch Bertha Catherine Diederich 💍 1897/3847	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 22	Wellington Wellington	2 days years	St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Dr., Wellington	97/544	1 March 1897	Rev. Thomas Derry V.G.
76	1 March 1897	Frederick Anstey Charlotte Stuart Yates	Frederick Anstay Charlotta Stuart Yates 💍 1897/3590	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 19	Wellington Wellington	years 1 month	House of Mrs. Sinclair, Louisville Terrace	97/566	1 March 1897	Rev. J. R. Glasson
77	1 March 1897	Frederick Biel Clara Barratt	Frederick Biel Clara Barrett 💍 1897/3389	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	27 26	Kaiwarra Kaiwarra	6 weeks 1 week	House of Flux, Kaiwarra	97/573	1 March 1897	Rev. A. B. Chappell
78	1 March 1897	Joseph Henry Birkett Julia Eginton	Joseph Henry Birkett Julia Egginton 💍 1897/3918	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 22	Wellington Johnsonville	years years	House of Mrs. Birkett, Alpha Street, Wellington	97/522	1 March 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
79	1 March 1897	Peter Enge Mary Elizabeth Kennedy	Peter Inge Mary Elizabeth Kennedy 💍 1897/3600	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	43 28	Wellington Ohariu	years years	R.C. Church, Ohariu	97/584	1 March 1897	Rev. J. Lane
80	1 March 1897	Vincent La Kroupa Elizabeth Jane Williams	Vincent Leo Kroupa Elizabeth Jane Williams 💍 1897/3848	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	27 26	Wellington Wellington	11 months 4 months	St. Mary of the Angels, Wellington	97/515	1 March 1897	Rev. J. Derry V.G.
81	2 March 1897	Joseph Brough Alice Stone	Joseph Brough Alice Stone 💍 1897/3919	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 21	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki Church, Wellington	97/523	2 March 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
82	3 March 1897	Alexander Urquhart Thomson Margaret Sloan Clark	Alexander Urquart Thomson Margaret Sloan Clark 💍 1897/920	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years 14 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/503	3 March 1897	W. J. Hyatt
83	3 March 1897	Charles Henry Spring Emma Mary Bennett	Charles Henry Spring Mary Emma Bennett 💍 1897/921	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	21 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/504	3 March 1897	W. J. Hyatt
84	5 March 1897	John Gell Fanny Gamble	John Gell Fanny Gamble 💍 1897/3920	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Officer	41 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki St., Wellington	97/521	5 March 1897	Rev. W. Baumber

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).