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 251

District of Buller 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
717	4 January 1897	Denis Philip Ryan Mary Ann Lawless	Denis Philip Ryan Eliza Mary Lawliss 💍 1897/3875	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	26 21	Haber Westport	9 Years 3 Months	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	97/612		4 January 1897	Thomas Walshe
718	9 January 1897	George James Barton Laura Symonds	George James Barton Laura Symonds 💍 1897/3872	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Domestic	26 23	Westport Westport	7 Years 6 Months	Residence of Denis O'Neil, Westport	97/609		9 January 1897	H. P. Cox
719	8 February 1897	William McConnell Ellen O'Gorman	William McCormack Ellen O'Gorman 💍 1897/3876	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	36 25	Granity Creek Westport	2 Years 5 Years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	97/613		8 February 1897	Thomas Walshe
720	8 February 1897	Henry Thomas Connelly Alice Sheath	Henry Thomas Rawnsley Alice Sheath 💍 1897/3873	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner Domestic	36 20	Westport Westport	3 Days 4 Years	Anglican Church, Westport	97/610	Samuel Hood, Father	8 February 1897	H. P. Cox
721	20 February 1897	Edwin Bootle Amalie Ottilie Baumler	Edwin Bostle Rimmington Amalie Ottilie Baumler 💍 1897/3874	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Domestic	28 22	Westport Westport	2 Years 7 Years	Residence of Charles Smith, Westport	97/611		20 February 1897	H. P. Cox
722	22 February 1897	Michael Casey Rachel Annibal	Michael Casey Rachel Annibal 💍 1897/3879	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic	30 28	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	9 Years 10 Years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	97/615		22 February 1897	Thomas Walshe
723	23 February 1897	Ambrose Filler Mary Ellen Hall	Ambrose Tiller Mary Ellen Wall 💍 1897/3877	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent Domestic	25 43	Cape Foulwind Cape Foulwind	9 Years 9 Years	Residence of James Hall, Cape Foulwind	97/614		23 February 1897	Thomas Walshe
724	24 February 1897	Michael Miller Catherine Gillespie	Michael Mills Catherine Gillespie 💍 1897/3880	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Domestic	26 28	Westport Westport	3 Years 20 Years	Roman Catholic Church, Westport	97/616		24 February 1897	Thomas Walshe
725	1 March 1897	Richard Blundell Euphemia Ellen Cartier	Richard Blanc Ellena Euphemia Cartier 💍 1897/3392	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman Domestic	27 18	Mokihinui Mokihinui	18 Months 18 Months	Residence of Ernest Hill, Sergeants Hill, Westport	97/617	Ellen Jensen, Mother	1 March 1897	John Hall

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).