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 412

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar John Winstanley Wilkin

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

5 January 1897

Arthur Edwin Gummo
Marion Mackie Smith

Arthur Edwin Munro
Marion Mackie Smith
💍 1897/4455

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
19

Oteramika
Woodlands

25 years
9 years

Presbyterian Church, Woodlands, Invercargill

97/905

Richard Smith, father

5 January 1897

Rev. Evan Bissett

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin Gummo	Marion Mackie Smith
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Edwin Munro	Marion Mackie Smith
	💍 1897/4455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Oteramika	Woodlands
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Woodlands, Invercargill
Folio	97/905
Consent	Richard Smith, father
Date of Certificate	5 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Evan Bissett

6 January 1897

James Jenlett Archer
Elizabeth Ann Lyons

James Yeulett Archer
Elizabeth Ann Lyons
💍 1897/4491

Bachelor
Spinster

Benchman

24
20

Clifton
Clifton

8 days
7 years

House of Mr Jabez Lyons, Clifton, Invercargill

97/910

Jabez Lyons, father

6 January 1897

Rev. A. H. Stobo

No	2
Date of Notice	6 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jenlett Archer	Elizabeth Ann Lyons
BDM Match (95%)	James Yeulett Archer	Elizabeth Ann Lyons
	💍 1897/4491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Benchman
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Clifton	Clifton
Length of Residence	8 days	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Jabez Lyons, Clifton, Invercargill
Folio	97/910
Consent	Jabez Lyons, father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Stobo

6 January 1897

John Stephen Collins
Mary Elizabeth Cavanagh

John Stephen Collins
Mary Elizabeth Cavanagh
💍 1897/4445

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

30
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
30 years

St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill

97/896

6 January 1897

Rev. W. Burke

No	3
Date of Notice	6 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stephen Collins	Mary Elizabeth Cavanagh
	💍 1897/4445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Clyde Street, Invercargill
Folio	97/896
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Burke

9 January 1897

Frederick Jones
Emily Clementson

Frederick Jones
Emily Clementson
💍 1897/4461

Widower
Spinster

Master Mariner

52
42

Invercargill
Invercargill

1 week
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

97/889

9 January 1897

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Jones	Emily Clementson
	💍 1897/4461
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	52	42
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	97/889
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1897
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

9 January 1897

Richard Henry Taylor
Annie Mary Blackmore

Richard Henry Taylor
Annie Mary Blackmore
💍 1897/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
33

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 weeks
5 years

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

97/890

9 January 1897

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	9 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Taylor	Annie Mary Blackmore
	💍 1897/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	97/890
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1897
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

11 January 1897

Henry Zealand Chapman
Mary Goodwin Kingsland

Henry Zealand Dale
Mary Goodwin Kingsland
💍 1898/901

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
22

Bluff
Invercargill

4 years
22 years

Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

See Memo attached

11 January 1897

J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	11 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Zealand Chapman	Mary Goodwin Kingsland
BDM Match (86%)	Henry Zealand Dale	Mary Goodwin Kingsland
	💍 1898/901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Bluff	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	See Memo attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1897
Officiating Minister	J. W. Wilkin, Registrar

13 January 1897

John Alexander Ramsay
Jeannie Jessie Catherine Pritchard

John Alexander Ramsay
Jeannie Jessie Catherine Pritchard
💍 1897/3417

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

25
22

Invercargill
Waikivi

25 years
22 years

House of Mr J. Pritchard, Invercargill

97/909

13 January 1897

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Ramsay	Jeannie Jessie Catherine Pritchard
	💍 1897/3417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waikivi
Length of Residence	25 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr J. Pritchard, Invercargill
Folio	97/909
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

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).