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 297

District of Christchurch 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
28	25 January 1897	James Fester Dinna Mary Shaw	James Fisher Emma Mary Shaw 💍 1897/3968	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Machinist	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 21 years	House of Mr. W.C. Shaw, May Street, Richmond	97/137	25 January 1897	Rev. J. T. Burrows, Wesleyan
29	25 January 1897	Arthur Dole Blakiston Mabel Bohun Hannah	Arthur John Blakiston Mabel Boham Hennah 💍 1897/3961	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer Governess	34 30	Christchurch Christchurch	14 days 30 years	St. Mary's, Christchurch	97/730	25 January 1897	Rev. H. A. Watson, Church of England
30	26 January 1897	James Sutton Kathleen Eliza Jones	Isaac James Sutton Kathleen Eliza Jones 💍 1897/1114	Widower Spinster	Gardener Domestic	47 36	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	Home of Rev. J. Blanshard, Lichfield Street, Christchurch	97/1953	26 January 1897	Rev. J. Blanshard, Presbyterian
31	26 January 1897	Harry Dars Edith Smith	Harry Fass Edith Smith 💍 1897/3980	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Home of Rev. J. Brown, 2. [illegible] Street, Christchurch	97/1725	26 January 1897	Rev. J. Brown, Primitive Methodist
32	26 January 1897	Thomas William Carroll Esther Jane Doe	Thomas William Curran Esther Jane Zoe Davies 💍 1897/4333	Bachelor Spinster	Currier Nurse	29 29	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 29 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/690	26 January 1897	Registrar, J. W. Parker
33	26 January 1897	Walter Samuel Rose Jane Stark	Walter Ernest Rose Jane Stark 💍 1897/4334	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	24 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 2 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	97/691	26 January 1897	Registrar, J. W. Parker
34	27 January 1897	Alexander Wilson Clara Edith Earnshaw	Alexander Wilson Clara Edith Earnshaw 💍 1897/3977	Widower Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	40 22	Christchurch Christchurch	38 years 22 years	St. Andrews Manse, Tuam Street, Christchurch	97/745	27 January 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian

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).