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 827

District of Temuka 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
8	5 April 1897	Walter Gurdler Fanny Elizh Boulter	Walter Gardler Fanny Elizabeth Boulter 💍 1897/4911	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 22	Temuka Temuka	4 months 22 years	Private Residence of John Boulter, Temuka	97/2140		5 April 1897	Rev C. H. Standage
9	10 April 1897	David Watts Alice Small	David Watts Alice Snell 💍 1897/4912	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Rangitata Island Rangitata Island	19 years 15 years	Private Residence of W. Small, Rangitata Island	97/2141		10 April 1897	Rev C. H. Standage
10	12 April 1897	Alex Massey Minnie Dundas Bowman		Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 18	Temuka Temuka	16 months 10 years	Presbyterian Manse, Temuka	97/2497		12 April 1897	John Dickson
11	14 April 1897	Ernest Morris Rose Woodley	Ernest Morris Rose Woodley 💍 1897/2112	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 19	Temuka Temuka	15 years 12 months	Church of England, Temuka	97/3324	Caleb Woodley, father	14 April 1897	Thos Farley
12	26 April 1897	James Whelan Emily Cath Wareing	James Whelan Emily Catherine Wareing 💍 1897/3446	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	28 23	Temuka Temuka	3 Days 23 years	Roman Catholic Church, Temuka	97/2142		26 April 1897	Louis Farrell
13	27 April 1897	Peter Paper Waiwitoria W. Kahu	Peter Piper Wikitoria Whakaetieti Kahu 💍 1897/3591	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 18	Temuka Temuka	1 year 18 years	Registrar's Office, Temuka	97/2143	Hoani Korehe Kahu, father	27 April 1897	P. P. White, Registrar
14	30 April 1897	James Pickett Annie McMillan	James Pickett Annie McMillan 💍 1897/4914	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	26 21	Temuka Temuka	4 months 3 weeks	Private Residence of C. H. Standage, Temuka	97/2144		30 April 1897	C. H. Standage
15	1 May 1897	Harry Robinson Annie Eliz. Walker	Harry Robinson Annie Eleanor Walker 💍 1897/3500	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 23	Temuka Waitohi Flat	20 years 20 years	Church of England, Temuka	97/3330		1 May 1897	Thos Farley
16	12 May 1897	George Holborough Frances Thorley	George Holbrough Frances Thornley 💍 1897/4915	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	27 19	Temuka Waitohi Flat	3 Days 19 years	Private Residence of Agnes Thorley, Temuka	97/2145	Agnes Thorley, mother	12 May 1897	C. H. Standage
19	5 June 1897	James Florence Francis Alice Armitage	James Florence Francis Alice Armitage 💍 1897/1082	Widower Spinster	Labourer	36 21	Temuka Temuka	3 years 9 years	Private Residence of Rev C. H. Standage, Temuka	97/1924		5 June 1897	C. H. Standage

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 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).