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 763

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 June 1897 Registrar A. Carswell

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

12 April 1897

Geo. Davidson
Grace A. Stevenson

George Davidson
Grace Adelaide Stevenson
💍 1897/1050

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineman

26
22

Hokitika
Hokitika

26 years
22 years

Residence of Mr. D. Stevenson, Hokitika

97/1910

12 April 1897

Rev. W. Douglas, Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

No	7
Date of Notice	12 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo. Davidson	Grace A. Stevenson
BDM Match (75%)	George Davidson	Grace Adelaide Stevenson
	💍 1897/1050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. D. Stevenson, Hokitika
Folio	97/1910
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Douglas, Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

21 April 1897

Walter Pennycuick
Elizabeth Meares

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

24
22

Hokitika
Blue Spur

3 days
22 years

All Saints Church, Hokitika

97/1911

21 April 1897

Rev. S. Hamilton, All Saints Church, Hokitika

No	8
Date of Notice	21 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Pennycuick	Elizabeth Meares
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Blue Spur
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Hokitika
Folio	97/1911
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, All Saints Church, Hokitika

24 April 1897

Peter Meares
Mary Bearcliffe

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

33
25

Hokitika
Hokitika

8 years
20 years

St. Mary's Church, Hokitika

97/1912

24 April 1897

Rev. W. B. Grace, St. Mary's Church, Hokitika

No	9
Date of Notice	24 April 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Meares	Mary Bearcliffe
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Hokitika
Folio	97/1912
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Grace, St. Mary's Church, Hokitika

5 May 1897

Fred. E. Foot
Eliza. Horley

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25
26

Hokitika
Hokitika

25 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

97/1913

5 May 1897

Rev. W. B. Grace, Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

No	10
Date of Notice	5 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred. E. Foot	Eliza. Horley
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hokitika
Folio	97/1913
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Grace, Presbyterian Church, Hokitika

6 May 1897

Fred. W. Proudfoot
Alice A. Robinson

Frederick Woodcock Broughton
Alice Lee Robinson
💍 1897/1054

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

5 days
21 years

Residence of Mrs. W. S. Robinson, Hokitika

97/1914

6 May 1897

Rev. C. Fraser, St. Mary's Church, Hokitika

No	11
Date of Notice	6 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred. W. Proudfoot	Alice A. Robinson
BDM Match (61%)	Frederick Woodcock Broughton	Alice Lee Robinson
	💍 1897/1054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	5 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. W. S. Robinson, Hokitika
Folio	97/1914
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser, St. Mary's Church, Hokitika

15 June 1897

Robert Symons
Mary Golding

Robert Wynne
Mary Williams
💍 1897/1055

Widower
Widow

Miner

53
48

Hokitika
Hokitika

13 years
20 years

All Saints Church, Hokitika

97/1915

15 June 1897

Rev. S. Hamilton, Episcopalian Minister, Hokitika

No	12
Date of Notice	15 June 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Symons	Mary Golding
BDM Match (62%)	Robert Wynne	Mary Williams
	💍 1897/1055
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	53	48
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	13 years	20 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Hokitika
Folio	97/1915
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Hamilton, Episcopalian Minister, Hokitika

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).