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 920

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 30 June 1897 Registrar H.H.G. Ralfer

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

1914

31 May 1897

William Henry Anderson
Louisa May Gordon Calderwood

William Henry Anderson
Louisa May Gordon Calderwood
💍 1897/1367

Bachelor
Spinster

Papermaker

29
17

Oamaru
Oamaru

7 months
17 years

At the house of Mr John Calderwood known as Ayrshire, situate at Tees Street, Oamaru

97/2343

No person within the Colony authorized to give consent.

15 June 1897

Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1914
Date of Notice	31 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Anderson	Louisa May Gordon Calderwood
	💍 1897/1367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Papermaker
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	7 months	17 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr John Calderwood known as Ayrshire, situate at Tees Street, Oamaru
Folio	97/2343
Consent	No person within the Colony authorized to give consent.
Date of Certificate	15 June 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Wright (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1915

31 May 1897

David McLeod
Elizabeth Jane Morris

David McLeod
Elizabeth Jane Morris
💍 1897/1348

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

23
18

Oamaru
Oamaru

14 days
18 years

At the office of the Registrar of Marriages

97/2334

Mary Morris (mother)

31 May 1897

H.H.G. Ralfer Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

No	1915
Date of Notice	31 May 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McLeod	Elizabeth Jane Morris
	💍 1897/1348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	14 days	18 years
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	97/2334
Consent	Mary Morris (mother)
Date of Certificate	31 May 1897
Officiating Minister	H.H.G. Ralfer Registrar of Marriages at Oamaru

1916

3 June 1897

Richard John Binnie Runciman
Margaret Meek

Richard John Binnie Runciman
Margaret Meek
💍 1897/1368

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

35
33

Oamaru
Enfield, Oamaru

3 days
33 years at Enfield

At the house of Mr William Meek situate at Enfield

97/2344

3 June 1897

Rev. James Standring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1916
Date of Notice	3 June 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Binnie Runciman	Margaret Meek
	💍 1897/1368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Enfield, Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years at Enfield
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr William Meek situate at Enfield
Folio	97/2344
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1917

14 June 1897

Alexander Tuttle
Elizabeth Paterson

Alexander Turtle
Elizabeth Paterson
💍 1897/1369

Alexander Crow
Elizabeth Congdon Paterson
💍 1897/2952

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

34
31

Ngapara
Ngapara

9 years
18 months

At the Presbyterian Manse at Enfield

97/2345

14 June 1897

Rev. James Standring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

No	1917
Date of Notice	14 June 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Tuttle	Elizabeth Paterson
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Turtle	Elizabeth Paterson
	💍 1897/1369
BDM Match (66%)	Alexander Crow	Elizabeth Congdon Paterson
	💍 1897/2952
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Ngapara
Length of Residence	9 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Manse at Enfield
Folio	97/2345
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Standring (Presbyterian Church of Otago & Southland)

1918

23 June 1897

Frank Thomas Battersby
Mary Caroline Grace

Frank Thomas Battersby
Mary Caroline Grace
💍 1897/1478

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
18

Enfield
Enfield

14 years
18 years

At the house of Mr Alfred James Grace situate at Enfield

97/2543

Alfred James Grace (father)

23 June 1897

Rev. Josiah Ward (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

No	1918
Date of Notice	23 June 1897
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Thomas Battersby	Mary Caroline Grace
	💍 1897/1478
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Enfield	Enfield
Length of Residence	14 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Alfred James Grace situate at Enfield
Folio	97/2543
Consent	Alfred James Grace (father)
Date of Certificate	23 June 1897
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah Ward (Wesleyan Methodist Church)

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).