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 275

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar Albert E. Cresswell

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

1 January 1897

John Stephens
Alice Webster

John Stephens
Alice Webster
💍 1897/4373

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Hokitika
Hokitika

15 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Hokitika

97/660

Jas. Webster, father of bride

8 January 1897

Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephens	Alice Webster
	💍 1897/4373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hokitika
Folio	97/660
Consent	Jas. Webster, father of bride
Date of Certificate	8 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

15 January 1897

Frederick Henderson
Ellen Syndrom

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
21

Woodstock
Woodstock

5 days
15 years

Registrar's Office, Hokitika

97/661

Jas. Syndrom, father of bride

18 January 1897

Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henderson	Ellen Syndrom
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Woodstock	Woodstock
Length of Residence	5 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hokitika
Folio	97/661
Consent	Jas. Syndrom, father of bride
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

10 February 1897

Francis Hodgson
Clara J. Graham

Francis Jones
Sarah Jane Graham
💍 1897/4544

Commercial Agent
Spinster

Commercial Agent
Domestic Duties

35
29

Hokitika
Hokitika

5 days
9 years

All Saints, Hokitika

97/662

10 February 1897

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hodgson	Clara J. Graham
BDM Match (66%)	Francis Jones	Sarah Jane Graham
	💍 1897/4544
Condition	Commercial Agent	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	5 days	9 years
Marriage Place	All Saints, Hokitika
Folio	97/662
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

24 February 1897

William H. Francis
Ellen Macgregor

William Alexander Morris
Ellen Macgregor
💍 1897/4376

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Kumara
Hokitika

15 years
15 years

Residence of R. D. Macgregor, Hokitika

97/663

24 February 1897

Rev. R. D. Macgregor, Wesleyan Minister, Hokitika

No	4
Date of Notice	24 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William H. Francis	Ellen Macgregor
BDM Match (73%)	William Alexander Morris	Ellen Macgregor
	💍 1897/4376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Hokitika
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Residence of R. D. Macgregor, Hokitika
Folio	97/663
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. D. Macgregor, Wesleyan Minister, Hokitika

9 March 1897

William Cumming
Agnes S. Shearer

William Cummings
Agnes Steche Shearer
💍 1897/4377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
18

Bannock
Bannock

21 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Hokitika

97/664

Mrs. Shearer, Mother of Bride

9 March 1897

Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

No	5
Date of Notice	9 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cumming	Agnes S. Shearer
BDM Match (84%)	William Cummings	Agnes Steche Shearer
	💍 1897/4377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Bannock	Bannock
Length of Residence	21 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hokitika
Folio	97/664
Consent	Mrs. Shearer, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	9 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Albert E. Cresswell, Registrar of Marriages, Hokitika

11 March 1897

Geo. W. Dale
Emma Jane Jones

George William Dale
Emma Jane Jones
💍 1897/4378

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Duties

31
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

30 years
6 years

All Saints, Hokitika

97/665

11 March 1897

Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

No	6
Date of Notice	11 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo. W. Dale	Emma Jane Jones
BDM Match (76%)	George William Dale	Emma Jane Jones
	💍 1897/4378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	30 years	6 years
Marriage Place	All Saints, Hokitika
Folio	97/665
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Church of England, Hokitika

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).