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 707

District of Wellington 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
148	20 April 1897	James Galland Isabella Bowden	James Galland Isabella Bowden 💍 1897/705	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	24 22	Wellington Wellington	6 days 14 weeks	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace	97/1706	20 April 1897	Rev. J. K. Elliott
149	20 April 1897	Edward James Chappell Edith Gardiner	Edward James Chappell Edith Gardiner 💍 1897/1424	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	24 24	Wellington Wellington	6 days 14 weeks	House of Mrs. Chappell, Botanical Road	97/2484	20 April 1897	Rev. Jas. Paterson
150	20 April 1897	Frederick Walter Pearce Elizabeth Mary Jessop	Fredrick Walter Pearce Elizabeth Mary Jessop 💍 1897/752	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	31 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki St.	97/1753	20 April 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
151	20 April 1897	John Edward Amer Annie Elizabeth Clark	John Edward Amer Annie Elizabeth Clark 💍 1897/706	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	24 24	Wellington Wellington	1 week 1 week	House of Mrs. Clark, Scarboro Terrace	97/1707	20 April 1897	Rev. J. K. Elliott
152	20 April 1897	Alexander John Rutherford Annie Maud Lewis	Alexander John Rutherford Annie Maud Lewis 💍 1897/716	Bachelor Spinster	Parliamentary officer	44 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Marks Church, Wellington	97/1716	20 April 1897	Rev. R. Coffey
153	20 April 1897	Herbert Joseph Andrews Phoebe Smith	Herbert Joseph Andrews Phoebe Smith 💍 1897/818	Bachelor Spinster	Torpedo Corps	31 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Choral Hall, Courtenay Place	97/1799	20 April 1897	Rev. E. H. Taylor
154	20 April 1897	Andrew Anderson Sarah Buelsy	Andrew Anderson Sarah Builey 💍 1897/678 Andrew Leonard Anderson Sarah Rumell 💍 1897/31	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 26	Wellington Wellington	weeks 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wellington	97/1697	20 April 1897	W. J. Wyatt
155	20 April 1897	David Slater Agnes Mary Milligan	David Slater Agnes Mary Milligan 💍 1897/1425	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer	34 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	House of Mr. Slater, Bottleville Terrace	97/2485	20 April 1897	Rev. J. Paterson
157	21 April 1897	William Albert Teague Emily Jane Gauntlett	William Albert Teague Emily Jane Gauntlett 💍 1897/369	Bachelor Spinster	Torpedo Corps	23 21	Wellington Wellington	1 day years	Wesley Church, Taranaki St.	97/1754	21 April 1897	Rev. W. Baumber
158	21 April 1897	Clarence Henry Barratt Florence Elizabeth Crespin	Clarence Henry Barratt Florence Elizabeth Crespin 💍 1897/753	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	28 28	Wellington Wellington	years years	Wesley Church, Taranaki St.	97/1755	21 April 1897	Rev. W. Baumber

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).