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 795

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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
266	18 June 1897	James Stock Sarah Jane Mitchell	James Stock Sarah Jane Mitchell 💍 1897/1185	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	20 17	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 17 years	House of Jas Mitchell, 17 Hazley St, Spreydon	97/2016	Collard Stock, father of Groom; James Mitchell, father of Bride	18 June 1897	Rev. W. G. Pearson, Wesleyan
267	18 June 1897	Charles Leathem Mary Adelaide Head	Charles Leatham Mary Adelaide Head 💍 1897/1142	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	21 23	Christchurch Christchurch	21 years 23 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	97/1980		18 June 1897	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Markerson
268	19 June 1897	Thomas Andrew Gibson Elizabeth Ann Lennie	Thomas Andrew Gibson Elizabeth Ann Lennie 💍 1897/1150	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Tailoress	26 30	Christchurch Christchurch	1 month 3 days	Burwood Methodist Church, Richmond	97/2012		19 June 1897	Rev. J. D. Durrant, Wesleyan
269	19 June 1897	Walter John Philpott Fanny Claridge	Walter John Philpott Fanny Claridge 💍 1897/1286	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	38 24	Christchurch Papanui	38 years 24 years	Wesleyan Church	97/2207		19 June 1897	Rev. D. J. Murray, Wesleyan
270	19 June 1897	Alfred William Bathurst Coffins Ellen Martha Rice	Alfred William Bathurst Coffin Ellen Martha Rix 💍 1897/1221	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 6 weeks	House of Wm. Darrington, Hazeldean, Brooks Road, Opawa	97/2086		19 June 1897	Rev. C. Penney, Wesleyan
271	24 June 1897	Isaac Ward Gertrude Annie Yates	Isaac Ward Gertrude Annie Yates 💍 1897/1143	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Tailoress	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 6 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	97/1981		24 June 1897	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Markerson
272	24 June 1897	James Alfred Hunter Mary McLean	James Alfred Hunter Mary McLean 💍 1897/1134	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	30 26	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 days	St. Michaels Church, Christchurch	97/1995		24 June 1897	Rev. C. W. Averill, Church of England
273	24 June 1897	William Alexander English Helen Fanny Ives	William Alexander English Helen Denny Ives 💍 1897/2189	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 25	Christchurch Christchurch	28 years 20 years	Registrars Office, Christchurch	97/2080		24 June 1897	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Markerson

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).