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 293

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar J. M. Patterson

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

14 January 1897

Frederick Habgood
Mary Frances Brown

Frederick Habgood
Mary Frances Brown
💍 1897/4438

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Cook

45
31

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
31 years

House of Mr. Chas. Brown, 31 Innes Road, St. Albans

97/764

14 January 1897

Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Habgood	Mary Frances Brown
	💍 1897/4438
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Cook
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	31 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Chas. Brown, 31 Innes Road, St. Albans
Folio	97/764
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Luxford, Wesleyan

14 January 1897

David Arthur Moore
Sarah Redmond

David Arthur Moore
Sarah Redmond
💍 1897/3976

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

26
23

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 years
6 years

St. Andrews Church, Christchurch

97/744

14 January 1897

Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	14 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Arthur Moore	Sarah Redmond
	💍 1897/3976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Christchurch
Folio	97/744
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

18 January 1897

Harry George Goodman
Julia Wilhelmina Augusta Schwartz

Harry George Goodman
Julia Wilhelmina Augusta Schwartz
💍 1897/3971

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

28
22

Christchurch
Christchurch

20 years
22 years

St. Mary's Church, Addington

97/722

18 January 1897

Rev. W. S. Beare, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry George Goodman	Julia Wilhelmina Augusta Schwartz
	💍 1897/3971
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Addington
Folio	97/722
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Beare, Church of England

18 January 1897

George Frederick Wilmot
Mary Benjamin

George Frederick Wilmot
Mary Benjamin
💍 1897/3895

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
30

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
30 years

St. Saviour's Church, Templeton

97/800

18 January 1897

Rev. W. J. Rankin, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Wilmot	Mary Benjamin
	💍 1897/3895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Saviour's Church, Templeton
Folio	97/800
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Rankin, Church of England

18 January 1897

William Canning
Florence Kirk

William Canning
Florence Kirk
💍 1897/1166

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

29
21

Lyttelton
Christchurch

6 years
12 years

St. John's Church, Lyttelton

97/900H

18 January 1897

Rev. H. C. Watson, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Canning	Florence Kirk
	💍 1897/1166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Christchurch
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Lyttelton
Folio	97/900H
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. C. Watson, Church of England

18 January 1897

Joseph Lloyd
Clara Matilda Mentions

Joseph Lloyd
Clara Matilda Mintrom
💍 1897/3948

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic

29
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

9 years
25 years

St. Luke's Church, Christchurch

97/716

18 January 1897

Rev. C. H. Jugard, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Lloyd	Clara Matilda Mentions
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph Lloyd	Clara Matilda Mintrom
	💍 1897/3948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	9 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Christchurch
Folio	97/716
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Jugard, Church of England

18 January 1897

Joseph Williams
Mary Tarnock

Joseph Mullins
Mary Darrock
💍 1897/3904

Joseph Buckman
Mary Brock
💍 1897/3156

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Servant

49
28

Christchurch
Christchurch

12 years
8 years

Roman Catholic Church, St. Mary's, Manchester Street, Christchurch

97/987

18 January 1897

Rev. Father Marron, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	18 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Williams	Mary Tarnock
BDM Match (78%)	Joseph Mullins	Mary Darrock
	💍 1897/3904
BDM Match (64%)	Joseph Buckman	Mary Brock
	💍 1897/3156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Servant
Age	49	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	12 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, St. Mary's, Manchester Street, Christchurch
Folio	97/987
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Marron, Roman Catholic

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).