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 781

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
159	15 April 1897	Francis William Craig Janet Young	Francis William Craig Janet Young 💍 1897/1188	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	27 31	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 23 years	House of Mr. J. R. Young, 220 Aldred Street, Christchurch	97/2021	15 April 1897	Rev. J. M. Nicol, Wesleyan
160	15 April 1897	Thomas Tomlinson Rhoda Faulding Tomlinson	Thomas Tomlinson Rhoda Faulding Tomlinson 💍 1897/3682	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Teacher	34 About 24	Christchurch Dunedin	8 years 24 years	House of Mr. Fisher, High Street, Dunedin	97/2431	15 April 1897	Rev. J. Gibble, Presbyterian
161	15 April 1897	Robert Kinner Frances Martin	Robert Kinnear Frances Martin 💍 1897/1213	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Milliner	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	23 years 23 years	St. Albans Church, Sydenham	97/2051	15 April 1897	Rev. S. P. Cachemaille, Church of England
162	15 April 1897	Thomas Hobbs Annie Brown	Thomas Hobbs Annie Brown 💍 1897/1192 Thomas Hayes Annie Brown 💍 1897/420	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	29 30	Christchurch Christchurch	29 years 23 years	House of Mr. Thomas Hobbs, Salisbury Street, Christchurch	97/2031	15 April 1897	Rev. R. Erwin, Presbyterian
163	20 April 1897	Patrick Joseph Ryan Edith Mary Gamble	Patrick Joseph Ryan Edith Mary Gamble 💍 1897/1214	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 24	Christchurch Christchurch	5 days 24 years	St. Mary's Church, Manchester Street, Christchurch	97/2052	20 April 1897	Rev. Father Marnane, Roman Catholic
164	20 April 1897	Robert Alexander McLean Sinclair Mary Pickett Wheeler	Robert Alexander McLean Sinclair Mary Rickett Wheeler 💍 1897/1154	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 6 years	House of Miss Thwaites, Lower High Street, Christchurch	97/2016	20 April 1897	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
165	20 April 1897	Frederick Augustus Cooke Alice Kate Burgess	Frederick Augustus Cooke Ethel Kate Burgess 💍 1897/1189	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer	27 27	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 10 years	Wesleyan Church, Durham Street, Christchurch	97/2028	20 April 1897	Rev. J. M. Nicol, Wesleyan

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).