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 775

District of Ashburton 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
995	3 April 1897	William Hopwood Mary Williams	William Hopwood Mary Williams 💍 1897/1078	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	22 23	Longbeach Mateston	15 years 21 years	Registrar's Office Ashburton	97/1939	3 April 1897	J. Ward, Registrar
996	6 April 1897	Walter David Dawson Mary Margaret Taylor	Walter David Dawson Mary Margaret Taylor 💍 1897/1079	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Mateston Ashlon	20 years 18 years	Presbyterian Church Hlernington	97/1940	6 April 1897	Revd. James Skinner
997	9 April 1897	William Wood Riddick Ada Naomi Hillyer	William Wood Biddick Ada Naomi Hillyer 💍 1897/1080	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 25	Longbeach Eiffelton	3 years 7 years	Private dwelling of James Hillyer at Eiffelton	97/1941	9 April 1897	Revd. Joseph J. Mather
998	10 April 1897	Samuel Inverza Margaret Corbett	Samuel Trevurza Margaret Corbett 💍 1897/1081	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 24	Ashburton Wakanui	18 years 17 years	Private dwelling of John Corbett at Wakanui	97/1942	10 April 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
999	10 April 1897	Andrew Brown Marjory Williamson	Andrew Brown Marjory Williamson 💍 1897/1083	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 24	Elgin Elgin	4 years 15 years	Private dwelling of Mrs. Williamson at Elgin	97/1943	10 April 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1000	10 April 1897	Isaiah Gallagher Florence Emmaline Been	Isaiah Gallagher Florence Emmaline Bean 💍 1897/1084	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 24	Mayfield Ashburton	7 years	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton	97/1944	15 April 1897	Revd. Geo. B. Inglis
1001	27 April 1897	David Thomas Smith Maria Anderson	David Thomas Christie McIlroy Maria Anderson 💍 1897/1085	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	32 23	Flemington Wheatstone	4 years	Presbyterian Church Flemington	97/1945	27 April 1897	Revd. James Skinner
1002	28 April 1897	William Nuttridge Ida Henry	William Hutchison Ida Henry 💍 1897/1086	Widower Widow	Farmer	39 35	Mt. Somers Ashburton	7 years 1 1/2 years	St. Stephen's Church Mount Somers (Springburn District)	97/1946	28 April 1897	Revd. Harold Purchas
1003	8 May 1897	George Martin Hawke Elizabeth Wills	George Martin Hawke Elizabeth Wills 💍 1897/2004	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 21	Lowcliffe Lowcliffe	4 years 5 years	Schoolroom at Lowcliffe	97/3218	8 May 1897	Revd. John Blackburne
1004	8 May 1897	William Drummond Martha Wakehin	William Drummond Martha Wakelin 💍 1897/1087	Bachelor Spinster	Wool carder Factory Employee	29 23	Allenton Allenton	4 years 2 years	Private dwelling of Robert Bruce, at Allenton	97/1947	8 May 1897	Revd. John Olphert

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).