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 627

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 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
8	14 April 1897	William Dimson Charlotte Gertrude Brown	William Duncan Charlotte Gertrude Brown 💍 1897/511	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 22	Hastings Hastings	13 months 18 months	Church of England, Hastings	97/1474	14 April 1897	Rev. John Hobbs
9	26 April 1897	Nathaniel Hewson Marguerite Mary Angela Allan	Nathaniel Hewson Beamish Margaret Mary Angela Allan 💍 1897/1228	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	33 27	Hastings, Hawkes Bay Hastings, Hawkes Bay	28 years 1 week	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings	97/2093	26 April 1897	Rev. Father Grogan
10	26 April 1897	Richard Shaw Mary Ellen Williams	Richard Shaw Mary Ellen Williams 💍 1897/488	Widower Spinster	Engine Driver	42 25	Hastings Hastings	7 years 6 years	St. Matthews	97/1475	26 April 1897	Rev. John Hobbs
11	27 April 1897	James Harris Lloyd Elizabeth Scullen	James Harris Lloyd Elizabeth Scullen 💍 1897/495	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 25	Hastings Hastings	4 days 7 years	The Residence of George Symonds	97/1482	27 April 1897	Rev. B. Marten
12	27 April 1897	Lawrence Taylor Cooper Sarah Ann McGregor	Laurence Taylor Cooper Sarah Ann McGregor 💍 1897/492	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	25 25	Havelock, Hawkes Bay Hastings, Hawkes Bay	25 years 3 days	The House of George Symonds	97/1479	27 April 1897	Rev. Alex Morrison
13	30 April 1897	Alexander McRae Edith Marian Emmeline Williams	Alexander McRae Edith Marion Emmeline Williams 💍 1897/493	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	28 23	Hastings Hastings	5 years 10 years	The Residence of Mr. G. Williams	97/1480	30 April 1897	Rev. Alex Morrison
14	3 May 1897	Michael Francis Donovan Catherine Lucy McAneny	Michael Francis Donovan Catherine Lucy McAneny 💍 1897/2325	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21	Hastings, Hawkes Bay Hastings, Hawkes Bay	4 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings	97/3592	3 May 1897	Rev. Father Smyth
15	5 May 1897	Humphry Moynihan Mary Whelan	Humphrey Moynahan Mary Whelan 💍 1897/2352	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 29	Hastings, Hawkes Bay Hawkes Bay	3 days 7 years	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings	97/3621	5 May 1897	Rev. Father Smyth

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).