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 233

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
Unnumbered	29 March 1897	Edward James Rouse Rachel Wright	Edward James Rouse Rachel Wright 💍 1897/3910	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 19	Petone Lower Hutt	years years	Registrars Office, Wellington	97/506	Jessie Wright, Lower Hutt	29 March 1897	W. Y. Wyatt
95	15 March 1897	Vernon Lapman Willeston Jessie Mary Stewart	Vernon Lipman Willeston Jessie Mary Stewart 💍 1897/1900	Bachelor Widow	Civil Servant	30 27	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Messrs Davis, Sydney St. Wellington	97/3095		15 March 1897	Rev. C. S. Ogg
96	18 March 1897	Ethelbert Cecil Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Playle	Ethelbert Cecil Davidson Ruth Elizabeth Playle 💍 1897/3923	Bachelor Spinster	Tram Driver	23 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki St. Wellington	97/526		18 March 1897	Rev. H. Baumber
97	23 March 1897	Albert Francis Tonks Elizabeth Bowman Duff	Albert Francis Tonks Elizabeth Bowman Duff 💍 1897/766	Bachelor Spinster	Moller	22 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki St. Wellington	97/1767		23 March 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
98	23 March 1897	William Harris Catherine Alexander	William Harris Catherine Alexander 💍 1897/351 William Hamilton Ethel Patience Alexander 💍 1898/554	Bachelor Spinster	Currier	28 23	Kawarra Khandallah	years 1 month	House of Mrs Harris, Khandallah	97/586		23 March 1897	Rev. Henry Brown Burnett
99	23 March 1897	Wilhelm Theodore Almquist Eleanor Hunter Hill	Wilhelm Theodore Almquist Eleanor Hunter Hill 💍 1897/3670	Bachelor Spinster	Dyer	45 21	Wellington Wellington	11 months 11 months	House of Mrs Davy, Courtney Place Wellington	97/569		23 March 1897	Rev. H. B. Redstone
100	24 March 1897	Robert Henry Teague Mary Edith Eberhart	Robert Henry Teague Mary Edith Aberhart 💍 1897/4303	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 25	Wellington Wellington	years years	Salvation Army Barracks, Vivian St. Wellington	97/577		24 March 1897	Mr. Edwards, Staff Capt.
101	29 March 1897	Albert John Clegg Agnes Barbara McNeil	Albert John Clegg Agnes Barbara McNeil 💍 1897/3924	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	25 25	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 year	Wesleyan Church, Taranaki St. Wellington	97/527		29 March 1897	Rev. H. Baumber
102	29 March 1897	Henry Edward Marchant Henrietta Laura Freeman	Henry Edward Marchant Henrietta Laura Freeman 💍 1897/810	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	26 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Peters Church, Wellington	97/1814		29 March 1897	Rev. W. C. Waters
103	29 March 1897	James Edward Wild Lucy Gertrude Walsh	James Edward Wild Lily Gertrude Walsh 💍 1897/3925	Bachelor Spinster	Barman	27 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mrs Stevens, Alpha St. Wellington	97/528		29 March 1897	Rev. H. Baumber

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).