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 777

District of Christchurch 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
127	1 April 1897	Malcolm Urton Lawrie Cookson	Malcolm Orton Lewie Cookson 💍 1897/1124	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Domestic	26 27	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 weeks	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	97/1986	1 April 1897	Rev. A. W. Averill, Church of England
128	1 April 1897	John Robert Henry Balch Annie Sophia Schmoll	John Robert Henry Annie Sophia Schmoll 💍 1897/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 5 years	Bible Christian Church, Lower High Street	97/2037	1 April 1897	Rev. W. Finlay, Wesleyan Methodist
129	2 April 1897	Frederick William Trehair Burrell Mary Ellen Charles	Frederick William Trehair Bunell Mary Ellen Charlotta Charles 💍 1897/1096	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer Machinist	26 25	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 14 years	Registrar's Office	97/1958	2 April 1897	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
130	2 April 1897	John Davidson Colville Adelaide Brook	John Davidson Colville Adelaide Brook 💍 1897/1168	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	33 21	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 21 years	St. Johns Church, Latimer Sq.	97/2006	2 April 1897	Rev. H. E. M. Watson, Church of England
131	3 April 1897	William John Brass Alice Maud Turner	William John Brown Alice Maud Turner 💍 1897/1097	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 21 years	Registrar's Office	97/1959	3 April 1897	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
132	3 April 1897	Harry George Trigance Nellie Cousins	Harry George Trigance Nellie Cousins 💍 1897/1098	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker Domestic	21 22	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 3 years	Registrar's Office	97/1960	3 April 1897	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
133	3 April 1897	George Newton Lina Harris	George Newton Lina Harris 💍 1897/1099	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic	25 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 months 6 months	Registrar's Office	97/1961	3 April 1897	J. W. Parkerson, Registrar of Marriages
134	3 April 1897	Claus Wiberg Pauli Emma Mary Phillpott		Widower Spinster	Sailmaker	43 29	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 29 years	St. Michaels Church	97/1987	3 April 1897	Rev. A. W. Averill, 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 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).