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 301

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
56	15 February 1897	Arthur Frederick Gordons Alice Sophia Her Spinks	Arthur Frederick Goodwin Alice Sophia Iles 💍 1897/3964	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 18	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 4 years	Wesley Church, Lower High Street, Christchurch	97/733	John Her, Father	15 February 1897	Rev. W. Tinley, Wesley
57	15 February 1897	Albert John Voice Rosina Melon Voice	Albert John Voice Rosina Nelson 💍 1897/3896	Bachelor Spinster	Fellmonger	27 26	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 10 years	St. Saviours Church, Christchurch	97/801		15 February 1897	Rev. F. R. Innes, Church of England
58	15 February 1897	Matthew Arthur Edwards Elizabeth Brown Edwards	Matthew Arthur Edwards Elizabeth Brown 💍 1897/4308	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 1 year	St. Andrews Church, Tuam Street, Christchurch	97/746		15 February 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
59	15 February 1897	Robert Swing Mistingall Malvina Mary Webb Mistingall	Robert Irving McDougall Malvina Mary Webb 💍 1897/3962	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer	36 26	Christchurch Christchurch	30 years 17 years	St. Mary's Church, Merivale	97/731		15 February 1897	Rev. H. T. Watson, Church of England
60	19 February 1897	George Hayward Margaret Connolly Hayward	George Hayward Margaret Connolly 💍 1897/3907	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer	31 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 11 years	Roman Catholic Church, Barbadoes Street, Christchurch	97/790		19 February 1897	Rev. S. Cummings, Roman Catholic
61	22 February 1897	Henry Charles Holland Alice Blick Holland	Henry Charles Holland Alice Blick 💍 1897/3983	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	20 21	Christchurch Christchurch	20 years 3 years	House of G. A. Holland, deceased, Christchurch	97/728	George A. Holland, Father	22 February 1897	Rev. J. Dawson, Methodist
62	23 February 1897	Harry Petrie Fox Maud Julia Fox	Harry Petrie Maria Julia Fox 💍 1897/1115	Bachelor Widow	Bootmaker Domestic	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 13 years	House of Mr. John Fox, Hammer Street, Linwood	97/954		23 February 1897	Rev. J. Plenslie, Presbyterian
63	23 February 1897	Henry Wallace Laraman Nellie Barrett Laraman	Henry Wallace Laraman Nellie Barrett 💍 1897/3984	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 4 months	House of Mr. W. Burns, Linwood	97/729		23 February 1897	Rev. J. Dawson, Methodist

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).