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 829

District of Timaru 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
25	6 April 1897	John Blomfield Annie Rooney	John Blomfield Annie Rooney 💍 1897/4933	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant Shop assistant	23 years 23 years	Wairis Timaru	5 years 23 years	Presbyterian Church, Timaru	97/2165		6 April 1897	Rev. Wm. Sillis, Presbyterian Minister
26	7 April 1897	Edwin Clarke Emma Wyatt	Edwin Clarke Emma Wyatt 💍 1897/4934	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	21 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	4 years 19 years	Dwelling house of Charles Wyatt, Tiitoria Street, Timaru	97/2166	Mother	7 April 1897	Rev. Peter W. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
27	7 April 1897	Edward McCallum Blake Mabel Charlotte Edge	Edward McCallum Blake Mabel Charlotte Edge 💍 1897/4916	Bachelor Spinster	Architect	31 years 20 years	Timaru Timaru	3 years 5 years	Dwelling house of Mrs. Edge, Barnes Street, Timaru	97/2146	Mary Martin Edge, Mother	7 April 1897	Rev. Joseph White, Presbyterian Minister
28	8 April 1897	Richard Earl Agnes Mary Coleman	Richard Earl Agnes Mary Coleman 💍 1897/4945	Divorced Spinster	Brewer Domestic Servant	45 years 33 years	Timaru Timaru	22 years 16 years	St. Mary's Anglican Church, Timaru	97/2152		8 April 1897	Ven. Archdeacon H. F. Harper, Anglican Clergyman
29	9 April 1897	William Gordon Bain Emma Bowyer Smith	William Gordon Bain Emma Bowyer Smith 💍 1897/4947	Bachelor Spinster	Stevedore	29 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	11 years 21 years	Dwelling house of Mrs. Smith, Commerce Street, Timaru	97/2155		9 April 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
30	10 April 1897	Albert Edward Roberts Alice Mary Morgan	Albert Edward Roberts Alice Mary Morgan 💍 1897/4948	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Housemaid	34 years 21 years	Timaru Timaru	3 days 3 days	Dwelling house of Mrs. Morgan, Dee Street, Timaru	97/2156		10 April 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister
31	10 April 1897	William John M'Guckin Alice Mary Hocking	William John McGuckin Alice Mary Hosking 💍 1897/4917 William John McKenzie Alice Mary Gunn 💍 1898/978	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Dressmaker	33 years 28 years	Claremont Timaru	15 months 20 years	St. John's Wood, Timaru	97/2147		10 April 1897	Rev. Geo. Williams, Congregational Minister
32	12 April 1897	William Jennings Mary M'Connell	William Jennings Mary McConnell 💍 1897/4928	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 years 18 years	Gleniti Gleniti	1 year and 9 months 12 months	Dwelling house of H. L. M'Connell, Rosebrook Settlement, New Gleniti	97/2160	H. L. M'Connell, Father	12 April 1897	Rev. Wm. Sillis, Presbyterian Minister
33	13 April 1897	Louis Hall Elizabeth Peebles	Louis Hall Elizabeth Peebles 💍 1897/4935	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 years 19 years	Timaru Timaru	21 years 7 years	Dwelling house of Robert Peebles, Wellington Street, Timaru	97/2167	Robert Peebles, Father	13 April 1897	Rev. Peter W. Jones, Primitive Methodist Minister
34	13 April 1897	Alfred Wyatt Jane Bruce Caram	Alfred Wyatt Jane Bruce Coram 💍 1897/4949	Bachelor Spinster	Yardman	26 years 26 years	Timaru Timaru	26 years 4 years	Dwelling house of George Roberts, William Street, Timaru	97/2157		13 April 1897	Rev. Chas. E. Beecroft, Wesleyan Minister

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).