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 447

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1897 Registrar Thomas Mutchcliff

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

John Alexander Robertson
Louisa McKinley

John Alexander Robertson
Louisa McKinlay
💍 1897/943

Widower
Spinster

Teacher
Nil

34
29

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

20 years
29 years

House of Rev. A. McKinley

97/1032

5 January 1897

Rev. A. McKinley, Congregational

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Robertson	Louisa McKinley
BDM Match (97%)	John Alexander Robertson	Louisa McKinlay
	💍 1897/943
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Nil
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	20 years	29 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. A. McKinley
Folio	97/1032
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McKinley, Congregational

22 January 1897

Thomas Lawson
Sarah Elizabeth Thomson

Thomas Sansom Hoskins
Sarah Elizabeth Thomson
💍 1897/944

Thomas Lawrenson
Harriet Annie Thomson
💍 1898/877

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

27
23

Port Chalmers
Mansford Town

20 years
20 years

Salvation Barracks

97/1033

22 January 1897

Joseph Buckshaw, Salvation Army

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawson	Sarah Elizabeth Thomson
BDM Match (76%)	Thomas Sansom Hoskins	Sarah Elizabeth Thomson
	💍 1897/944
BDM Match (65%)	Thomas Lawrenson	Harriet Annie Thomson
	💍 1898/877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Mansford Town
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Barracks
Folio	97/1033
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1897
Officiating Minister	Joseph Buckshaw, Salvation Army

17 February 1897

Thomas Parker
Jessie Elizabeth Duriet

Thomas Barker
Jessie Elizabeth Dorset
💍 1897/945

Bachelor
Widow

Builder
Sheep Farmer

44
45

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

9 days
9 days

House of George Parker

97/1034

17 February 1897

Rev. T. McGregor, Wesleyan

No	3
Date of Notice	17 February 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Parker	Jessie Elizabeth Duriet
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Barker	Jessie Elizabeth Dorset
	💍 1897/945
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Builder	Sheep Farmer
Age	44	45
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	House of George Parker
Folio	97/1034
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McGregor, Wesleyan

16 March 1897

Edward George Neilson
Margaret May Wilson

Edward George Neilson
Margaret Roy
💍 1897/4531

Bachelor
Widow

Fisherman
Nil

37
30

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

10 years
10 years

House of Edward G. Neilson, Deborah Bay

97/1035

16 March 1897

Rev. A. McKinley, Congregational

No	4
Date of Notice	16 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Neilson	Margaret May Wilson
BDM Match (76%)	Edward George Neilson	Margaret Roy
	💍 1897/4531
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fisherman	Nil
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of Edward G. Neilson, Deborah Bay
Folio	97/1035
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McKinley, Congregational

18 March 1897

John Main
Rose Smith

John Bain
Rosie Smith
💍 1897/4542

John Maher
Agnes Smith
💍 1897/4480

Joseph Baxter
Rose Smith
💍 1897/4591

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
22

Mount Cargill
Mount Cargill

6 days
6 days

House of John Main, Mount Cargill

97/1036

18 March 1897

Rev. E. Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	18 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Main	Rose Smith
BDM Match (90%)	John Bain	Rosie Smith
	💍 1897/4542
BDM Match (67%)	John Maher	Agnes Smith
	💍 1897/4480
BDM Match (65%)	Joseph Baxter	Rose Smith
	💍 1897/4591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Mount Cargill	Mount Cargill
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	House of John Main, Mount Cargill
Folio	97/1036
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Chisholm, Presbyterian

25 March 1897

John Greig Howarth
Jane Hignall

John Greig Howarth
Jane Wignall
💍 1897/39

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Saleswoman

34
28

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

18 years
28 years

House of E. Hignall, Port Chalmers

97/2255

25 March 1897

Rev. T. C. Platts, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	25 March 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Greig Howarth	Jane Hignall
BDM Match (96%)	John Greig Howarth	Jane Wignall
	💍 1897/39
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	18 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of E. Hignall, Port Chalmers
Folio	97/2255
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. C. Platts, Church of England

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).